Blood Is Thicker
by Black-Neko-Chan
Summary: Two sets of twins; one set vampires and the other vampire hunters. Both go to the same school but don't know what the other is. Until a vampire hunter develops a crush on a vampire and a meeting throws them together.
1. A Meeting of Sorts

Hello readers! So, this is my first non-oneshot Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic! Yay me! And yay you, because now you get something to read, heheh.

Summary: Two sets of twins; one set vampires and the other set vampire hunters. Both going to the same school with completely no clue of what the other is. At least until a certain vampire hunter develops a crush on a vampire he's had his eyes on and an unlucky meeting throws them together. AU, main pairing of Thiefshipping with a side of Deathshipping for texture and flavor.

So yup, this is an AU vampire fic. Everyone and their mother has one it seems, but I didn't so I felt left out. To cure that I created this. Heheh, hope you enjoy the first chapter. X]

Oh, just to make this clear for everybody: In my story Marik is the hikari and Malik is the yami. I know most people have it the other way around, and I probably would too if I hadn't already started writing things like this. I've got a oneshot where the names are like this, and since I'm OCD-like I can't have it be one way in one story and then the other way in a different story. There. Did that make sense? Because I have a tendancy to make easy things confusing. Oh well, as long as you understood the first part it's all good! And one more thing, my rating will go up as the story progresses. There shall be yaoi! So now that that's over with, let's get this show on the road!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Although I'd sure like to. Little children would never be able to watch it again, kukuku...

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"You're staring at him again."

"No I'm not!"

"Sure. And that isn't drool I see coming down from your lip either, right brother?" Quick as a flash Marik brought one tanned hand to his lips, meaning to wipe away said drool. His twin, Malik, sneered at him and began to snicker, a low, deep noise that made the receiver of it feel like a fool. And a fool Marik did feel. Once again his brother had tricked him into doing something stupid. What made it even worse was that he'd known all along that he wasn't drooling, but had moved as a sort of reflex, just in case. And why not? It wasn't like the person he was looking at (looking at, not staring as Malik has phrased it) wasn't drool-worthy.

"I don't see why you find the Thief King so fascinating," Malik commented loftily, rolling his eyes.

"'Thief King?'" Marik repeated.

"His own nickname. Certainly not one I'd give him. But I guess he has a pretty well-known reputation as being one."

"A king?"

No you imbecile! A thief!"

"Oh." That comment was rewarded with a swift but painful punch to the head. Not that he didn't deserve it, it had been a pretty stupid question, but he couldn't help it. Marik's brain was currently concentrating on the white-haired teen a few seats in front of him, not on whatever it was his brother was saying.

"Tch. Lovesick girl." Marik turned to give his twin a piece of his mind but Malik had already headed off either to his own desk or to go torment someone else—Ra knew he loved doing that. It was definitely unhealthy for a person to derive that much pleasure from someone else's pain, but Malik was his brother and he could accept his strange quirks. Plus those strange quirks allowed him to watch a certain student in peace.

The receiver of Marik's unrivaled gazes was a student known as Bakura. The students of Domino High either hated the guy or loved him. In the case of the female population, most of them loved him. In the case of the male population, half of them thought he was cool; the other half hated him for stealing their girls and other various reasons. Bakura himself didn't really seem to care what people thought of him. He made crude jokes, badmouthed teachers and other students, and could hold his own in a fight—all attributes that made him respected by others—but Bakura didn't care. Marik had never seen him hang out with anyone for more that a week, even the girls. He was a loner it seemed, and Marik though he was interesting. And just a tad bit hot. Though he wouldn't tell that to anyone.

"Why don't you go over there already?" Oh Ra, he was back. Unfortunately for Marik, Malik had somehow found out about this attraction he felt toward the teen he was watching and now refused to leave him alone about it.

"Why can't you just go torture someone else?" Marik asked, rolling his eyes and turning to look at his twin.

"I did. But that idiot Jounouchi came to little Yuugi's help, and you know Isis would be pissed if I ended up in the principal's office again. And besides," Malik grinned—looking like a psychopath in Marik's opinion, but then he was probably going for that—and took a seat in front of his twin's. "Sometimes brother, you're so much more fun to torment." Marik snorted and removed his gaze from Bakura to glare at the idiot sitting in front of him.

"I can't just go up to him and start talking about nothing Malik," He replied to the earlier asked question.

"Well," Malik grinned maliciously—a look Marik knew meant trouble, usually for him, "How about I get him over here to talk to you?" Before Marik could stop him from doing anything stupid and/or embarrassing to him, the slightly younger of the two was up out of his seat with a wicked grin plastered on his face and the pink tip of his tongue showing. His dark purple eyes were wide and he had begun to chuckle softly to himself. This would end badly, Marik could already feel it.

"Hey you! The asshole rabbit!" Malik called gleefully. Within a second every eye in the room was on him, most of them angry fangirls who took any insult to their object of worship as personal, and including one pair of chocolate brown eyes that appeared like they should be full of warmth and kindness but were instead harsh and hateful, that sent a cold glare which made Marik shiver and Malik laugh even more.

"An asshole rabbit huh? Then you must be the dumb ass porcupine who has no idea what he's getting into by messing with this rabbit," The white-haired teen said, and with one fluid motion was out of his seat and standing in front of Malik, who laughed even more, sounding so much like someone with more that just a few loose screws.

"On no, it's not me that wants you. My brother," Malik said, motioning to him with a nod of his head, still laughing. Bakura turned to look at Marik, and amazingly enough, his mouth changed from a harsh thin line into a lazy smirk and for a moment Marik thought that nothing horrible was going to happen. ...And then Bakura's fist connected with his jaw in a blow that knocked him off balance and sent him into a desk.

Marik got up slowly, rubbing his jaw where the punch had hit, pain already flaring up in that area and beginning to swell. Bakura was standing in front of him but the lazy smirk was gone and now he was outright grinning in an eerily similar way to his brother. Malik however, had lost his grin and now he threw a punch at Bakura. The first one missed but the second one connected with his cheekbone and made him stagger backwards. Bakura frowned, then chuckled softly and charged at Malik.

The students around the immediate area had created a circle around the two and were chanting the word "fight!" Others were cheering every time a punch landed. Sooner or later teachers were bound to come running to break up the fight. It was only a matter of minutes. Both of them would get in trouble if they were caught like this, but maybe if they weren't fighting when the teachers came they would get into less trouble? Marik hoped so at least. So he went into the middle of the circle to try and break them up.

Bakura and Malik were both throwing punches like crazy now, half of them not even hitting while the ones that were had started to bruise, but neither of them looked like they were anywhere ready to stop. Marik tried to grab Malik but ended up getting pushed aside and almost punched again. He frowned and pushed himself in between both of them, putting one hand on Malik's chest and catching one of Bakura's fists in midair. The other fist however, hit him square in the chest. Marik's breath left his lungs but he didn't loosen his hold on the other fist or allow Malik to move.

"Get out of the way Marik. I'm not done with him yet," Malik growled. He lunged forward and Marik moved in front of him.

"Enough Malik!" He shouted. He dropped Bakura's fist and turned to glare at him as well. "You too." The white-haired teen's chocolate eyes widened for a moment like he was unused to being reprimanded then narrowed and he scoffed disdainfully.

"All three of you follow me now!" The teachers had finally arrived. Marik took his hand off his brother's chest and looked at the teachers, four of them all with identical stern, disapproving looks on their faces.

"Nothing's wrong teachers!" Marik smiled cheerfully, hoping that the four of them were blind to the bruises the three of them bore and the scuffed up state of their school uniforms. "They were just having a small argument, nothing else."

"I meant what I said. The three of you will follow me to the principal's office or someone shall escort you there." The same teacher as before said this, and Marik's smile faltered. Looks like stopping the fight hadn't had any effect. They would still all be in trouble. Marik and Malik walked up to the waiting teachers and after a moment of rebelliously ignoring the teachers Bakura followed. One of the teachers told all the students to get back into their seats and the seven of them left, silently headed for the principal's office.

Malik and Bakura refused to look at each other as they walked, and Marik couldn't help but feel caught up in the middle of it all. Well, that was partly because he was in the middle of Malik and Bakura, but that feeling also derived from the tension that hung in the air. Sparks were flying between the two teens on either side of him and they hadn't even said anything or looked at each other. This was not how he had wanted his first real meeting with Bakura to go. Really, it was all Malik's fault that things had happened like this. The guy was talented at pissing off everyone around him it seemed. But try as he might, Marik couldn't get too pissed off at his barely younger brother. After all, the guy had only started fighting Bakura because he had gotten punched.

The three were led to the principal's office where they were all reprimanded for fighting in school and were suspended for four days. The usual. Marik thought this punishment was a little unfair, at least for him. He hadn't done anything after all. Soon after the principal left to call their parents. The three of them sat there silently, brooding, the air thick with an almost tangible tension. Malik turned to glare at Bakura.

"Don't even start!" Marik scolded. Malik "hmph'd" but stopped glaring at the other teen. Marik sighed and turned his head ever so slightly to look at the teen with the wild white hair. He hadn't said anything yet or even acknowledged the other two and Marik was starting to wonder if maybe he should say something to him. Maybe apologize for his brother's actions, even if he had been the one to start it.

Just as he was going to say something the door to the office opened up and another teen walked in. He looked so much like Bakura that Marik had to double take to verify that it wasn't. This boy had the same white hair, the same brown eyes, even the same build as the other. But where Bakura was harsh and cold this boy seemed soft and kind. Marik felt like he could easily grow to like this guy.

"Bakura!" The boy said, rushing over to the teen that was his double, hardly noticing the other two in the room. "You got into another fight? Didn't you just finished your suspension for the last one?" Bakura grumbled something in response but Marik didn't catch it. As if seeing them for the first time, the other white-haired teen looked at the other two occupants of the room and smiled politely.

"Hello, I'm Ryou, Bakura's twin brother. I'm sorry for whatever it is that he's done," He smiled.

"Hey!" Bakura cried indignantly, "It's not my fault! He's the one who started it!" He pointed at Malik accusingly, who stood up and growled at the one who had spoken.

"You want to continue our little fight? Didn't get enough of an ass-kicking the first time?" Malik growled, smirking at the same time, creating quite the sight. Marik thought he actually saw Ryou shudder a little bit.

Bakura stood up from his chair as well, knocking it over and smirking just as evilly as the one he stood across from. Marik quickly reacted before the two could start fighting again and grabbed his brother's arm.

"Enough! Stop acting like a child! You already fought and proved nothing by doing so except landing yourself a suspension! And I thought that you didn't want to get yelled at by Isis! She's already going to now, but you know she will even more if she finds out you started another fight right after the first one!" Marik said. Malik glared at him and back at Bakura before growling again and tearing his arm from Marik's grasp.

"Fine," He huffed and sank back into his chair, pouting. Marik laughed at his brother's antics and faced Ryou again.

"Sorry. Bakura's right, my brother kind of did start this whole thing. He can be a bit out of it sometimes. He was tormenting Bakura," Marik explained.

"Really?" Ryou asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Usually it's the other way around." He laughed then. "I guess I'm just surprised that for once this wasn't Bakura's fault."

"I am still here you know," Bakura said crossly. "Don't let him take all the credit. I'm the one who threw the first punch."

Ryou sighed. "I should have known you couldn't have been completely innocent in all this."

"He deserved it. Asshole called me a rabbit. Do I look like some kind of rabbit to you?" Bakura mumbled to himself. Both Ryou and Marik laughed slightly at this. A rabbit. That really was a brilliant comparison his brother had come up with. Those weird flaps his hair had did look a bit like ears, he supposed.

The principal came back into the office then and Marik quietly sat back down, hoping not to get into any more trouble. He informed them that he had called their sister and that she would be expecting them at the house. He told Ryou of Bakura's punishment and then that he could go back to his class and Bakura could leave. The four of them left the office. Ryou and Marik said goodbye to each other and set off in a different direction. Malik trudged behind Marik as they left the building and headed around the back of the school where his motorcycle was parked.

"I want to drive," Malik stated.

"You don't know how. Now get on the back," Marik commanded.

"I'm a fast learner," Malik persisted.

"I really don't think Isis would appreciate us getting into a traffic accident on top of this suspension business. Now shut up and get on the back of the motorcycle. I'm driving," Marik said. Malik pouted but did as was asked of him and climbed onto the bike. Marik got on too and kicked the kickstand up before speeding off. He really didn't want to hurry home and face the wrath of Isis, but unlike most people, leaving her alone to cool off would not help her disposition. Stewing in her own juices would only make matters worse for them, something Marik was not keen to have happen. So he hurried home as fast as he could.

The house was strangely quiet when the two arrived home. Rishid would still be out at work somewhere, going door-to-door selling people things. Their adopted brother hardly ever talked, even at home, but he was evidently quite the businessman. Since moving to Domino city a year ago he had already gotten two promotions. Isis should have been at work at the museum but had no doubt left when she'd gotten the call from the principal. She should have been here somewhere, perhaps sharpening some kind of weapon to punish them with, but instead the house was deathly quiet.

"It's quiet. I don't like it," Malik spoke up, mirroring his very thoughts.

"You don't think something could have happened do you? Should we be worried?" Marik questioned his look-alike, both of them now quite uncomfortable with the situation they had found themselves in.

"Oh yes, you should be _very_ worried." Marik yelped at the sudden cold voice and all but leapt into his twin's arms. Both of them spun around quickly, identical looks of stern anger at being tricked etched into their faces as they recognized the sound of the voice. Isis stood before them, looking sterner that either of them could have hoped to and creating a very intimidating air around her as she glared at them with the full might of her elder sister powers.

"Gods Isis! You nearly stopped my heart!" Marik said, no longer feeling quite as threatening as before but still glaring at his sister. Couldn't have her thinking he was actually scared of her, oh no.

"And nearly made him piss himself," Malik mumbled, rolling his eyes. Before Marik could even think of retaliating Isis had shut them up with a look. She grabbed both of them by the arm and yanked them up close to glare at them at eye level. Two sets of violet eyes met one set of pissed off blue and became extremely nervous.

"What in the _world_ were you two thinking?" Isis asked, carefully enunciating each word. She sounded calm. Marik was scared. He had expected anger, fury, screaming and yelling, maybe some throwing and smashing, perhaps even some crying and had braced himself accordingly. He hadn't been expecting this deadly and scary, calm, collected person in front of him. He was reminded of the calm before the storm. Oh man, they must have really pissed her off this time.

"It wasn't our fault," Malik scoffed, either not caring about this calm mood or just too stupid to notice. Marik nudged him in the side as a warning but the idiot continued. "I was just trying to get Marik together with his love interest and the bastard punched him." Isis was quick to raise an eyebrow at that.

"He's not my-!" Marik started to protest. He quickly shut up when he remembered the mood Isis was in. He had always seen himself as the smarter twin out of Malik and him. Sure, his brother could be smart sometimes but the guy just didn't know when to shut up. Now was one of those times when that knowledge would have come in handy.

"I don't care _whose_ fault it is. This boy might have hit Marik first but I'm sure the two of you are just as much to blame as he is. I've heard that the principal suspended both of you for four days. I think that's a very lenient sentence, seeing as this isn't the first time you two have been in trouble. As it is though, I don't want you missing any more school so I'll have to come up with another punishment for you two. I've given it a bit of thought but I haven't come up with anything suitable yet. So until I do I want you to go up to your rooms and if I hear even _one_ peep I will make you both wish you had never been born," Isis finished, frighteningly calm the whole time. At the end of her monologue she released both teen's arms and then, even scarier than the calm voice, she smiled. Both twins booked up the stairs to their rooms and slammed their doors shut.

Despite herself, Isis's smile widened. Things had gone much better than expected. She had really thought that Marik and Malik would have put up more of a fight than that.

"Guess I'll have to text Rishid later and tell him that his idea worked. Hmm. Am I really that scary?" Isis mused out loud. She shrugged, decided she could ponder that later. Right now she had some punishments to come up with.

00000

"Ryooouuu!" As soon as he entered the house he shared with his twin brother Ryou heard aforementioned brother call his name. Ryou shrugged off his coat and book bag, hung up the coat and put away the book bag, and headed into the kitchen where he found his brother fiddling with a red apple on top of the counter. That is, both Bakura and the apple were on the counter.

"Off the counter Bakura," Ryou scolded. Bakura sulkily slid off the counter.

"I'm bored," He complained. Ryou rolled his eyes at the other.

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have gotten yourself suspended. You'll have to be bored for four whole days," He said. Bakura groaned and banged his head against the counter, then moaned softly in pain.

"Why did I do that?" He asked himself. Ryou chuckled softly and smiled.

"I really should punish you, you know," He chuckled. Bakura more or less ignored this comment, knowing fully well that his brother would do nothing of the sort. Instead he picked up the apple he'd been playing with and took a bite out of it. He chewed it for a moment, then quickly swallowed and made a face.

"Bleh. I always forget how much I hate these things," Bakura said.

"Then why do you keep eating them?"

"They're so red and shiny-looking. They look delicious."

"You think everything looks delicious. And you never like any of it," Ryou mumbled. He pulled a chair out from their table and sat down. Bakura followed his example and sat across from him, taking his apple with him. He twirled it idly on the table in an almost hypnotic fashion. Ryou's mind began to wander and he thought of the other twins they'd met today.

"What do you think about those twins we met?" Ryou asked, hoping to start a conversation. The twirling of the apple stopped and Bakura's eyes narrowed.

"What about them?" He asked a little harshly. Ah, he didn't like them. Of course. Bakura didn't like anyone who could beat him at anything, and if he hadn't started the fight then that could count as being bested in something, even if it was something Ryou would rather have him not be better at.

"I just think they were interesting, that's all. It's not everyday you meet another pair of identical twins," Ryou said calmly, trying to not set his brother off even more. Bakura looked at him, then suddenly he started to smirk.

"You like one of them don't you?" Bakura smirked. Ryou blushed suddenly as that comment, involuntarily realizing that they were both attractive.

"N-no!" Ryou stuttered, shaking his head furiously. Bakura's grin only widened.

"So, which one was it that caught your eye?" He asked.

"I-I don't know their names," Ryou replied.

"The one who was talking to you is named Marik, the one with the porcupine hair is Malik," Bakura informed, not letting lack of knowledge deter him from finding out which one Ryou had the hots for. Ryou, meanwhile, gave him a questioning look as this piece of information was brought to the table.

"They're both in my class so of course I would know their names," Bakura defended himself, catching the drift of what Ryou's look had been about. _If you dislike them so much then why would you know their names?_ Having answered this, Bakura continued to interrogate Ryou. He wouldn't let his brother get away with that little change-the-subject-to-Bakura trick. "So, now that their names are in order, which one caught your eyes?"

"Malik," Ryou answered quietly, turning his gaze away. He knew Bakura would be surprised; indeed, even he was surprised that he had chosen the obviously more psychopathic twin when both looked equally good. He couldn't help it -every time he pictured the two he saw Malik pouting in his chair inside the principal's office, looking adorably cute in a twisted kind of way. What could he say, after living with Bakura for all these years he must be starting to get some kind of fetish for crazies. Ah, such a far cry from before...

"The crazy porcupine? Honestly Ryou, your taste in men has gone terribly downhill. Sure, he's hot and all, but the guy's an ass. He wouldn't be any good for you," Bakura said. Ryou felt an urge to remind Bakura that he too was an ass, but resisted because it would have been mean. Instead he flipped the proverbial table.

"So does that mean that you prefer Marik?" Ryou chirped cheerfully. Bakura raised his head to look his twin straight in the eye, wondering when the other had become so cunning.

"Tch, no," He replied indifferently, making it appear completely that no, he hadn't realized just how good-looking that face of Marik's was before he had thrown his fist into it. Of course Ryou didn't buy that for a moment, only smiling that all-knowing smile even more.

"Well you just said that Malik was good-looking, and Marik does look exactly like him but isn't mean, so it makes sense. I even think that he likes you a little bit," Ryou elaborated.

"And just what makes you say that, little brother?" Bakura questioned.

"Well he did stand up for you instead of his own brother," Ryou smiled. Bakura frowned.

"Only because I really didn't start the fight," He protested. Ryou didn't reply again, just kept smiling away, infuriating Bakura more and more.

"Don't you have homework to do?" He snapped harshly.

Of course," Ryou said, not even fazed by this outburst, mainly because he knew he was right. He left the room still smiling. Bakura picked up his apple. The juicy inside had turned brown from not being eaten. He took it in both hands and tossed it into the garbage. Perfect shot.

Marik liked him. Even if it was his brother that had started the fight, Bakura had punched him in his face without any warning, and yet the bronze-skinned teen had still stuck up for him. No one did that unless there was a reason, and Bakura was willing to bet that it wasn't just because he was a truthful person by nature. No, liars knew other liars. This kid was one and he had done it to earn some favor points. And even before that fight, hadn't the teen been looking at him? Yes, he had noticed that. At first he'd assumed it to be just another idiotic girl, not the exotic-looking person that it was. That had been a surprise. And now with even Ryou picking up that Marik liked him, that gave it more credibility. Which was just wonderful. No doubt this would complicate life immensely.

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Yay for the first chapter! How'd you all like it? Was it horrible, wonderful, so-so? Should I just burn it now or should I continue? Heehee, drop me a review! X3


	2. Marik to the Rescue!

Woot! Here it is, chapter two!

**Disclaimer: **Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though she would very much love to. Anyone wanna buy it for her as a present? It would make her day and she would love you forever.

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"Where is my sister and what have you done to her?" This evil, vile person could not be the nice, sweet, caring person he knew Isis to be. This was some kind of horrible creature in her stead, one with a mind more twisted and evil then that of his brother on his best days.

"Now Marik, that's not a very nice thing to say. I'm the same person I've always been, I'm just trying a different approach to your punishments, that's all," Isis smiled sweetly.

"'A different approach?'" Malik roared, "This isn't a 'different approach!' This is torture! You'll be the death of us woman!" Marik winced, knowing Isis hated it when Malik called her that. Surely now the screaming would start...

"All right. I'll just make it four weeks instead of three," Isis continued to smile. Marik and Malik gaped. It was with surprisingly fast fury that Marik turned on his twin, his own flesh and blood, the one more alike him than anyone else.

"You idiot!" He screamed, "You only made it worse!" Malik growled and snarled, baring his teeth in a way that made him look quite animalistic as he prepared to jump and then throttle his brother.

"Do you want me to make it five weeks?" Isis asked politely, interrupting Malik. He glanced at her with his arms still in the "Ready to Throttle Position" and then slowly lowered them, looking embarrassed that his sister could threaten him this much. Ah, if only Marik had a camera.

"That's what I thought," Isis continued when the two of them had calmed down and were facing her again. "So your punishment will last for four weeks. For the next four weeks neither Rishid nor I will be making you two food. You'll have to do that yourself. We will also not be giving you any money, so that means no going out to eat fast food. You will also be cleaning any and all messes in the house. Rishid and I will clean nothing. If the house isn't as clean as it usually is when we do it then I'll just add another week to your sentence."

"So basically you and Rishid will just be lying around the house like lazy pigs while we do everything," Malik snorted. Marik nudged him a warning to shut up in case Isis felt generous and tacked on another week. Instead, Isis smiled even more, looking happy and sweet. Oh how wrong it was for their tormentor to look like that.

"Basically," Isis agreed. Her smile faltered for a moment and she looked like she had just remembered something. "Also, you will both be allowed to leave the house on the grounds that if the two of you were stuck inside during these four weeks you would most likely ruin it. However, if either of you do anything bad or illegal I'll add two weeks for each offense. And if either of you want to get a job, you can use the money you make to buy food. Though I doubt you'll actually do that."

"Come on Isis! This is a horrible punishment! You know that neither of us can cook! I don't even think I know how to work the microwave... Can't you just ground us and send us to our rooms?" Marik pleaded. He grasped his sister's hands in his own and looked up at her with big, wide, innocent violet eyes. Behind him he could hear Malik snickering at how pathetic he was acting, reduced to begging like this, but he could really care less if it worked.

"Marik," Isis said. The harsh lines of her smile faded and softened and Marik knew that it was working. He's always thought that Isis had liked him the best. Malik might be better at bullying people to get his way but he was the manipulative one. Marik could control people easily as long as he said the right things and Isis was no exception. He had her, hook, line, and sinker. His mouth almost contorted into a smirk but he managed to refrain from taking that action while Isis was looking.

"I'm sorry Marik." _No._ "I can't take back your punishment." _No!_ "I would like to just ground you both and send you to your rooms-" _Then do it!_ "-but I can't. Every time Rishid or I do that once it's over nothing changes. Because neither of you care. So if we make you suffer, we're hoping something will change and you'll both act better. Again, I'm sorry but I'm adamant about this," Isis finished and Marik's hopes crashed.

She left before the twins could gang up on her again and try to change her mind. She left both still standing there, both quite thoroughly shocked that she really was going to go through with this punishment. Since both of their parents had died, Rishid and Isis had always been the parent figures to the twins. Even so, they'd always had a tendency to spoil them and let them get away with everything because they were the "babies" of the family. (It was most likely because of this that the two of them weren't exactly as good as they should have been.) So now that Isis had apparently grown a backbone it startled the two of them.

"Well this sucks," Marik said. Malik nodded, a little shocked that even Marik's puppy dog eyes (pathetic as it was, their sister was a stickler for it) hadn't worked. Yup, Marik's statement pretty much summed it up. Looks like this was going to be a crappy four weeks, if they even lived that long.

00000

Marik was starving. Well, maybe that was an overstatement, but it had been two days since he had last eaten a full, healthy meal. Only two days since their punishment had begun. And oh so many more stretching out in front of them.

The upside of all this was that Marik had learned to use the microwave, stove, and oven. It had only taken some time, effort, and a trip to the hospital as a result of a third-degree burn on his forearm where flesh had connected with the hot underside of the oven while trying to get something out of it. Malik was considerably luckier, only receiving a numerous amount of small burns on his fingers.

The downside of it was that neither of them had yet been able to actually produce something edible yet. Food in the oven and on the stove was quickly forgotten or not timed correctly and became not so much food as burned and charred messes stuck to the bottom of pots and pans that were a pain to clean up and left a horrid odor in the air. Nuking food in the microwave was the safest bet, but even that could turn into a mess if you were talented enough, which it appeared that Marik and Malik were.

And then Marik had discovered ramen.

He'd eaten ramen noodles before of course, but had never really realized how simple, how easy they were to cook. Even an idiot could make them, he bet. And ramen made a pretty good meal too. In short, they were his key to survival these next few weeks. Even though he had tried to be inconspicuous about eating and making them in front of his brother, Malik had soon found out about how easy it was to make ramen as well. That was why he was currently running away from his brother, holding as much of the coveted ramen as he could carry in one outstretched hand.

"I-sis!" Marik yelled as he ran into the living room, Malik hot on his tail, shouting for him to forfeit the ramen. Marik skidded to a halt as he almost crashed into his sister, panting heavily and grinning like an idiot.

"Isis, Malik is chasing me!" Marik explained quickly. Behind him Malik finally reached the living room as well.

"He's hogging the ramen all to himself!" Malik roared, glaring hard at his brother. Feeling childish, Marik stuck his tongue out at the other and scrambled to hide behind Isis when his brother made a lunge for him. Isis raised an eyebrow at the behavior of the two twins.

"Marik, why exactly are you keeping all the ramen to yourself and not giving any to your brother?" Isis inquired.

"Because these are a piece of cake to make! If I'm going to survive this punishment I can't afford to give him any. And I found them first," Marik said, holding the packages of ramen protectively to his chest.

"Well Malik, if Marik found them first then there's really nothing I can do about that. If he doesn't want to share then I suppose you'll have to find something else to eat," Isis explained calmly. Malik's face darkened for a moment, then morphed into that deranged grin he could pull off so well. It was rather unnerving.

"Fine, if that's the way we're going to play this, then so be it. Brother, I'd watch my back if I were you," Malik said calmly.

"Was that a threat?" Marik questioned.

"Of course not, my dear brother. Why would I ever threaten you?" Malik asked innocently. He even smiled to complete the look, though his eyes told a different story. He walked past Marik, who was still standing behind Isis.

"Just watch your back," He said softly as he moved closer to Marik. The last word in that sentence was whispered into his ear as one of Malik's hands ran down his back in an almost seductive manner. Marik shivered and froze under his brother's touch; he hated it when the other did this. It was so creepy and weird for two brothers to touch like this.

Malik breathed on his neck, causing him to shiver even more, and then clamped his teeth down on Marik's earlobe in a none-too-gentle nibble. That bolt of pain allowed Marik to move again, and he pulled away from his creepy brother.

"Ow!" He said. He raised a hand to his poor ear to make sure it wasn't bleeding and Malik grinned his psychotic grin.

"Isis, did you see what that freak did to me?" Marik cried indignantly to his sister, who, it appeared, hadn't seen anything because she was halfway across the room. Marik frowned as his question went unheard by Isis. She went to the living room and opened the door for Rishid, who evidently was home from work. He placed the two boxes of what were most likely products he hadn't managed to sell yet on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"I've gotten word that there's something for me to take care of in the next city," He said abruptly. Isis's face hardened at that and both twins turned to Rishid.

"I don't know how long it'll take, so I'll need some kind of excuse for my absence at work," He continued.

"Well, we can call the doctor. He owes us one. I'm sure he'll be able to come up with a convenient excuse. There's always some illness going around; we'll just say you caught whatever it was. I'll go give him a call right now," Isis said and left the living room. Both twins cornered Rishid expectantly. It had been a while since they'd last had a job, and Isis had never mentioned this in their punishment, so why not ask?

"So did you hear what kind of a job it was?" Malik inquired casually.

"Yeah, is it a nest or just a single one?" Marik asked enthusiastically.

"No. The two of you aren't going. It's just one so I'll be fine by myself," Rishid answered.

"Why not? It's a weekend, and even if it wasn't Malik and I still have two more days of suspension so we'll be back in time!" Marik persisted. Rishid sighed and shook his head.

"I understand that the two of you are good and could help a lot, but neither you nor your brother are even adults yet. You're both sixteen and still in high school. Your sister and I don't want to involve you in any unnecessary risks, and we'd rather have the two of you live different, normal lives instead of the ones Isis and I find ourselves caught up in," Rishid explained, smiling kindly at the two in an effort to have them understand. Marik pouted and Malik scoffed.

"I like the life I have now," Malik said. "I'd rather kill those bloodsuckers then have some dull normal life any day." He crossed his arms and leaned against a wall. Rishid sighed again and sat on the couch.

"One day when you're older and want to have a family that will change. But by then it'll be too late," He said quietly. Marik didn't respond and neither did Malik. Isis came back into the room.

"It's all settled. The doctor said he'll call your boss and tell him you've caught some kind of bug," She said.

"Don't you think we should go with Rishid, sister dearest?" Malik asked, turning his gaze on her now that he had decided asking Rishid wouldn't work.

"No. And you're still grounded," Isis replied immediately. Malik growled.

"Failed again Malik. Looks like there really is no getting out of this," Marik grimaced. Malik wouldn't give up this easily though, so while he argued with their older siblings Marik grabbed his forgotten ramen and headed stealthily up the stairs to hide them somewhere Malik would never look. Brother or not, he claimed these and by Ra was he going to keep them.

00000

It was a wonderful sunny day outside. The weekend had come and passed, school was over for the day, and kids were outside either playing in the case of the younger ones, or walking home from school. In the case of Marik and Malik, since the two of them still had one day of suspension left they weren't walking home from school but watching the others who were.

Neither of the two twins really wanted to be outside on this particular day but Isis was freaking out as home and neither really wanted to deal with that either. Today would be the third day that Rishid had been gone and Isis was worried that something may have happened to him. Both Marik and Malik would have also been concerned if they agreed with Isis's worries, but Rishid was arguably the best hunter of their family and was only going up against one vampire, so it was pretty safe to say that he was fine. That and Isis tended to worry whenever one of them was away for longer than a day. And boy was it annoying. When she thought one member of the family was in trouble she assumed everyone could easily be too and went into "Overly-Protective Sister Mode." The two of them had practically been forced into sneaking out of the house.

So now the two of them were out of their prison and on the streets making fun of the students who passed them. It wasn't what either of them wanted to be doing but at least it was funny and passed the time.

"Why did we move here again?" Malik questioned, bored out of his skull. This city was so dull! Making fun of the people passing them was amusing but that quickly lost its thrill when none of the passerby's felt insulted enough to start something. No, it seemed like no one wanted to get into any trouble. Maybe he was too intimidating. He probably shouldn't have worn his cape.

"Isis wanted us to 'get away from all the gangs of Egypt and start over somewhere new' or some kind of crap like that. She also said something about bad memories. And then she got the job at the museum too," Marik responded as he searched for another victim to fall prey to their game.

"Ah yes. We were really something back in Egypt as the heads of the Ghouls, weren't we? If we still carried that status here that albino freak you're always watching would never have dared to mess with us," Malik snarled. Marik nodded in agreement. The Ghouls had been the most powerful gang back home, and as the leaders of such a powerful group they had been respected and even feared. Yes, if they had still been back there Bakura would have never thought about punching him. It was that behavior however, that had pushed Isis to make the move. She had always been going on about the dangers of gangs.

"Heheh. If we were still back in Egypt you could have snapped your fingers and the thief would have been all over you. Too bad you don't still have that power, eh brother?" Malik cackled. Marik glared at his annoying brother and punched him in the arm, which only made his laughter increase.

"Idiot. I don't like him like that. I think he's interesting okay? And maybe I happened to notice that he's got some good looks, but that doesn't mean I 'want him all over me.' I like girls you moron," Marik deadpanned.

"If you're straight then I'm sane. There is no guy out there who notices that another guy is hot without being gay. And no offense, but you look it too. With all that jewelry you wear-"

"You wear it too!"

"-and your soft lilac eyes and perfect, flowing, platinum-blonde hair-"

"We look exactly the same!"

"-and that queer lavender midriff hoodie you always wear with those tight leather pants. That outfit just screams gay-ness brother."

"I like that hoodie. I look good in it. And my pants aren't that tight..." Marik pouted, feeling down now that his favorite outfit had been insulted -and Malik was probably right too. He'd often been told that he looked very pretty and more than once he'd had the sneaking suspicion that another guy was hitting on him. Did that mean that he really looked gay?

"See, the difference between you and me is that I know how to make the jewelry work. On you it just looks pretty or gay, but on me it looks hot. And while we do have the same eyes and hair, I spike my hair and wear dark colors to make my eyes seem darker instead of wearing some slutty lavender hoodie to make them stand out even more. Everything about you just labels you as gay, my dear brother. And you ogling that thief doesn't make that seem any less so," Malik shrugged nonchalantly. He places a comforting hand on Marik's shoulder only to have it shoved off.

"Well I'm not gay," Marik said. Malik just grinned, not wanting to argue anymore or just because he'd won that battle and knew it. Stupid bastard.

"Well if it isn't Gang Friendship this way come. This should be fun," Malik smirked. Even though he was still feeling a little down and his ego had deflated slightly from the insult to his manliness, Marik still grinned as he saw Yuugi and his friends. If he was thinking the same thing as Malik, then this would be fun. The two of them started walking to meet the other group.

"Hey losers," Marik said as they met in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Hello Marik, Malik. How have you been?" Yuugi greeted them cheerfully. Marik almost felt bad for the poor short boy. The kid obviously has no idea that they were here to torment him. He was all smiles, as if they had always been his best friends or something like that. Poor stupid, naive, optimistic Yuugi.

"C'mon Yug'. Don't waste your breath on these two," Jounouchi said. He placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the two twins.

"Yeah, they aren't worth it," Honda added.

"Let's just go," Anzu chimed it. The group of four moved to avoid them but Malik smirked and got in their way again.

"Aw, that hurts my feelings. That was pretty mean, don't you agree brother?" Malik asked, feigning a hurt expression.

"It was pretty mean. The blonde and pointy-haired idiots aren't very nice are they? I think they could stand to learn some manners," Marik agreed. He smiled at his brother, and must have looked fairly scary doing it because he could have sworn he saw the friendship girl shudder. Jounouchi and Honda, sensing their ill-intent, moved closer to the two and pushed Yuugi back by Anzu. Jounouchi punched the palm of his hand in a way that was meant to be threatening but wasn't at all. Malik sniggered beside him and Marik just kept smiling.

"Hey Yuugi!" The six of them turned as one to see who was interrupting their would-be fight.

"What do you know?" Malik murmured. Coming to meet with them were the two white-haired twins who had caused their suspension. The happier-looking one, Ryou Marik remembered his name was, was smiling a soft, almost cute, smile and dragging what looked like a pissed off and sulking Bakura behind him. Yuugi poked his tri-colored head out from between the blockade of Jounouchi and Honda and smiled the same cute soft smile back at Ryou. Behind him Marik thought he heard Bakura gag.

"Ryou! Bakura! What are you two doing here?" Yuugi chirped happily. Ryou reached them and deposited Bakura on the sidewalk.

"We had just gone to do a little shopping," Ryou explained. He continued to talk with Yuugi and the rest of Gang Friendship started in on the conversation as well. Malik glanced over at Marik, who shrugged. Neither of them was quite sure of what to do now that they weren't going to be having a fight anymore. They backed off a little, catching Bakura's attention as they did do.

"Wonderful. The Doublemint Twins are a part of Yuugi-tachi as well," Bakura commented dryly, rolling his eyes. Ryou had apparently been listening for he turned around at that comment.

"Marik! Malik! Fancy seeing you here! Sorry I didn't notice you before," Ryou smiled. He extended his hand in their direction. Both of them looked at the offered hand for a moment, contemplating, before Marik offered his own uncertainly. Malik left him hanging.

"Yeah well, we were just leaving," Malik growled and grabbed his brother. Marik's hand was wrenched from Ryou's as the one holding him stomped off and left the other teens behind. He allowed himself to be pulled out of sight before he ripped away from Malik's grip.

"What was that about?" He questioned.

"That kid was trying to be friendly. I hate that," Malik answered.

"So? Who cares if he was trying to be friends with us? Maybe he'd be a good one," Marik shrugged. Malik spun around, that stupid cape of his whipping out behind him. His face was harsh and cold, the same as his glaring eyes. Marik stared, surprised at how angry his twin was. He was always grinning and smirking and laughing, almost always cold but never before in the same way as he was now. He was furious, frighteningly furious, and at what Marik didn't know.

"Friends Marik? Friends? We don't have friends. We have minions and mindless fools to order around but not friends. We've never had friends. Because we don't need them. We're better than them Marik. They're below us, not worth our time. Dirt," Malik spat out, voice filled with venom Marik had never before heard coming from his twin.

"Malik? What's wrong?" He asked. The two of them had made a point out of not worrying over the other like girls, but right not Marik was willing to let that rule slide. Something was seriously bothering his brother.

"Nothing," Malik said. He bent his head so his sand-colored bangs covered his eyes. His fist clenched at his side for a moment as they stood there silently, air heavy with tension. Then the moment passed and Malik's fist uncurled and he raised his head. He shook his hair out of his eyes and frowned.

"Your wannabe boyfriend called us the Doublemint Twins. Next time I see him I'll have to punch him," He said. Marik rolled his eyes and tried to look angry but couldn't stop the tugging at his lips. He settled for a half-smile, half-smirk.

"He's not my boyfriend you dolt."

"Maybe not. But you want him. You want him to hold you, and to touch you, and to kiss you. And then you want him in your pants so he can fu-"

"Malik!" Both brothers looked at each other, one horrified and the other grinning maniacally. The crazy one started singing his newly created song again and the other charged after him. Both started running, cackling like a pair of madmen and scaring quite a few normal people just trying to mind their business as well.

00000

It was over. Not the punishment, no that was still one day shy of completing the first week, but the suspension. Marik and Malik were back in school. Oh yeah. And annoyingly enough, it was worse now than it had ever been.

Marik's first class was the same class the fight between Bakura and Malik had broken out in. And even though he hadn't really been in that fight nor said any insults specifically toward Bakura (that had all be Malik's doing) all the females and even some males as well were pissed at him. His first class was the worst, but all the other classes were bad too. All day he'd been on the receiving end of evil glares coming from Bakura admirers and had been pestered about how badly he had lost that fight. Obviously when the story was being spread the part where he really hadn't been doing any fighting had been excluded.

And of course there was also the problem of not knowing what was going on in any of his classes. Some kid had been designated to bring him and Malik their make-up work, but that hadn't happened. The kid said he had, but Marik knew for certain he lied. If Isis had known they had make-up work to do she would have made them do it. Unfortunately the teacher didn't believe him. Stupid. At least he hadn't gotten into trouble.

So now that that wonderful school day had passed Marik was about to head home today on his trusty motorcycle. Malik had to ride the bus, something he immensely hated. He wanted to ride on the motorcycle too, but since causing Marik to lose control of it and almost crash a while ago he wasn't allowed to anymore unless it was important. Malik was his brother but that motorcycle was his baby.

He was headed to the back of the school where he had locked up the bike when he stumbled upon two guys cornering another. Marik had been prepared to walk right past them and ignore the whole thing and be on his way. But then he noticed the guy in the corner had white hair. Upon closer inspection he found that it was Ryou.

Marik stopped. He had a problem now. He didn't think either of the guys had seen neither him, nor Ryou so he could sneak away right now and wait for whatever this was to end and then go get his bike. That seemed like the most reasonable course of action. Why should he try to help Ryou? He'd only seen him twice and had really only talked to him once. He didn't owe him anything. They weren't friends, as Malik had said.

He turned to leave and stopped again to look at Ryou. The boy looked so scared, so pathetic. So different from how Bakura would have looked if he were in this situation instead. Marik sighed heavily and shook his head. Was he really going to get into this and perhaps get himself into trouble again so soon after it had passed? By Ra he was. With a groan he turned again and headed to go rescue Ryou.

"Hey," He said. The two guys looked at him and glowered. Ryou looked relieved.

"Just keep walking kid. None of this concerns you," One of them said. Marik smirked.

"I actually think it does. See, that's my friend you have against the wall," He replied, cringing slightly at the word "friend." He couldn't help thinking about Gang Friendship when he said it. An image of Ryou offering him a handshake rose up in his mind. Friends huh?

"So what? You gonna do something about it?" The other one asked, also smirking.

"Sure. If you don't let him go I may have to," Marik said. The two thugs moved away from Ryou and closer to him, cracking their knuckles, chuckling together. The one of the left stuck first, heaving his fist out. Marik jumped slightly to the left and dodged the punch altogether. Now the other threw a punch aimed at his face, which he also dodged. Marik crouched and swung his leg out in front of them and flipped both onto their backs in the ground. He stepped over one of them and headed to Ryou.

"Th- Thank you Marik! I'm not sure what I would have done it you hadn't shown up," Ryou exclaimed. Marik waved off his thanks.

"It's fine. You really shouldn't be back here by yourself you know," He said.

"I know but- Marik look out!" Marik ducked as soon as he heard Ryou yell his name. A pipe came crashing down on where his head should have been. Marik turned and shot his leg out again, hitting the wielder of the pipe in the stomach. He reached out and grabbed it while the other was still looking at his winded partner.

"Fuck you man! This isn't over!" He yelled and hightailed it. The injured one ran as well, holding his stomach and wheezing. With a satisfied smirk Marik let the pipe go and returned to walking toward his bike.

"Come one," He said to Ryou. "You probably missed your bus so I'll take you home," Ryou nodded and followed. The two reached Marik's red motorcycle and climbed on it. After Ryou told him where his house was Marik sped off.

00000

"Where have you been?" Bakura demanded the instant Ryou walked into the door. It had been twenty minutes since Ryou should have been home. He better have a good excuse because Bakura was pissed off. He had been worried and he hating worrying. Whenever Ryou was by himself for too long it usually meant trouble. He was some sort of human -well not human- magnet for that kind of thing. After all these years he should have learned how to evade it by now but the younger of the two twins had obviously missed that little life-lesson.

"At school. I had a little trouble there," Ryou laughed sheepishly as he fiddled with his hair. It had been more than a little trouble then. Ryou only played with his hair like that when he was nervous. Bakura bristled at that comment, instantly knowing that it had most likely been those two assholes harassing him again. Oh, once he found out what they had done he was going to kill them. Ryou had told him to just leave them alone and he had -had only scared them a little as a warning- but now they had gone and done it again and he was pissed. He'd rip them limb from limb, he'd-

"I'm okay though! Marik helped me!" Ryou added quickly, seeing his brother seethe with anger. He was no doubt planning their deaths this very moment. Bakura tended to be just a tad bit overprotective.

Bakura stopped his rather evil thinking at that sentence and calmed just a little. Ryou opened the door to their house even more to reveal the tan-skinned boy who'd helped him.

"Yo," He greeted, sounding bored.

"Don't 'yo' me. Ryou, why did you bring him here?" Bakura questioned. He wasn't quite as angry anymore but was now irritated. He didn't care if this guy had helped Ryou or not, he didn't want him here.

"He helped me Bakura. Now stop blocking the doorway so we can get in," Ryou chided and pushed his way in. He grabbed Marik by his wrist and dragged him in as well.

"Can I get you something to eat? Maybe some tea?" Ryou inquired politely.

"Um... Sure. I'll eat anything as long as there's no meat, and tea's fine," Marik said. Ryou smiled and headed off into the kitchen. Soon the sounds of cheerful humming and clattering plates could be heard coming from the kitchen. Bakura rolled his eyes. His brother could be such a pansy sometimes.

Bakura headed to the couch and slumped down in it. His arm brushed against Marik's, who looked at him in a not-too-friendly gaze.

"What?" Bakura snapped, "It is my house you're in. And I wouldn't have to sit so close to you if Ryou had gotten a bigger couch." The last part of hat sentence was directed toward Ryou, who poked his head out from the kitchen.

"Bakura, stop being mean! And I didn't want to spend more money on a bigger couch," Ryou explained. He ducked back into the kitchen and the humming again commenced.

"It wasn't even our money! What does it matter how much the couch was?" Bakura asked, annoyed.

"Exactly! So why would I buy the bigger couch to reward you for stealing? If you get a job and earn some honest money I'll get the bigger couch. Until then you're stuck with this one," Ryou called out. Bakura grumbled. Damn him and his good nature. Things would be so much easier if Ryou was just as corrupt as he was.

"So you are a thief?" Bakura looked at Marik, who was now looking at him with interest.

"Yeah. And if you tell anyone and cause trouble for us I'll kill you," Bakura threatened. He reached inside of his pocket and pulled out his switchblade. He carefully unfolded it and held it out for the other to see. Instead of looking frightened, the blonde on his couch just started laughing. Figured he was just as insane as his brother.

"You don't need to threaten me. It's not like I haven't stolen anything myself you know," He smirked. He put a hand behind his back and pulled out some kind of gold rod with a sphere on the top of it. An open eye adorned the sphere and two wings extended from the side of it. Bakura eyed it greedily, absentmindedly wondering if there was any way he could steal it from the other teen's clutched. He might not like him, but Marik sure had good tastes.

"I took this from the museum my sister works at. It's called the Sennen Rod. There are six others similar to this one, all mine. They're all extremely old, extremely valuable Egyptian artifacts," Marik smiled. His hand went to the bottom of the Rod where he revealed there was a dagger under the sheath at the end of the hilt.

"It's not as impressive as your blade, but it can still cause quite a bit of harm," He continued. Bakura's hands reached out to touch the golden object but Marik withdrew it possessively and held it to his chest. Bakura frowned and the boy with the sun-kissed skin smirked.

"Whatever. I'm sure I could steal something much better anyway," Bakura sniffed, turning around again. He heard Marik chuckle beside him.

"Maybe we should make it a contest," He purred. Ryou entered the room just then carrying a mug of tea and a plate with a sandwich that he informed was peanut butter and jelly. Marik's face lit up as he spied the sandwich and grabbed it as soon as Ryou gave it to him. He wolfed it down in a matter of seconds. Both white-haired twins stared at him in amazement.

"Do you always eat like that?" Bakura questioned. Marik glared at him.

"No, but for the past week all I've been eating is ramen since my sister won't cook for me anymore as punishment for that fight with you, and I can't cook anything myself without ruining it or causing bodily harm to my person," He snarled.

"Well then maybe you should learn how to cook," Bakura retaliated.

"You can't cook yourself," Ryou pointed out.

"If you would let me into the kitchen I bet I could," Bakura scoffed. Ryou laughed and headed back into the kitchen, saying he would make Marik another sandwich or two. The two left in the room quietly looked at anything besides each other. Bakura soon grew bored of that activity however, seeing as how this was his house and he already knew what everything in it looked like. So he looked at his companion instead.

The first thing that caught Bakura's eye about the teen was the jewelry he wore. Shiny things had always held some sort of power over him. And Marik had on a lot of shiny things. Two gold earrings hung from his earlobes and several gold bands were clasped around his neck and arms. Most guys couldn't pull off wearing that much jewelry without looking gay, and while this kid couldn't either, at least it looked good on him. The jewelry and his silky platinum golden locks accented his bronze skin perfectly.

The second thing was his eyes. They were lilac. That was certainly a rarity. They reminded Bakura of amethysts. The third was his body. It was nice. Yup, this kid was definitely hot, even if he had told Ryou otherwise. If he had been any other guy Bakura would have been hitting on him. With the way he looked, Marik was like some kind of walking piece of very exquisite jewelry, and Bakura wanted him. The only thing that prevented him from taking what he wanted was that comment Ryou had said about him preferring Marik. After all, if Ryou found out that he'd been right Bakura would never hear the end of it from his pipsqueak brother.

Ryou entered the living room again with not two, but three more sandwiched and Bakura quickly turned around. He was fairly positive he hadn't been caught staring. Marik grabbed them and took a hug bite.

"What are you?" Bakura asked suddenly, turning once again to face Marik, who swallowed his food and frowned.

"Uh, I'm a human," He replied sarcastically before taking another bite.

"Don't be a smart ass. You're obviously not Japanese, so what are you?" Bakura asked.

"Egyptian," Marik answered.

"How cool! I've always thought Egypt was an interesting place!" Ryou exclaimed. He and Marik started talking animatedly about the country and the people and other things Bakura didn't care about. So he ignored them and looked at Marik instead. He was much more interesting anyways, and he was sure that those two wouldn't mind.

Maybe, he thought to himself, just maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Okay, so there was the wonderful-ness of chapter two. Yay! So, before you review and tell me how awesome it was, I do have four things I want to mention first. First, does anyone think that this skips around too much? Like, I usually end up skipping the rest of the day and just writing a part where things are interesting. So does that bug anyone? Do I need to stop doing that, or cut back a little or something? Or am I just needlessly worrying?

Second, the Sennen Rod and other items will have absolutely nothing to do with this story at all. No, there shall not be any kind of crazy Egyptian magic flying around here. The only reason I put them in here at all was to sort of relate this to the anime. While this is an AU, I do want things to still be similar to the anime, that way it doesn't seem like I'm just pulling some story out of nowhere but decided to use anime characters because I couldn't think of any on my own.

Third, for a status update on how things are progressing with this story, like where I am in it, or if I'm having any troubles with anything, plus a date for when I plan on updating, and a little blurb about the next chapter, go to my profile. I've got a ton of crap there.

Fourth, chapter three is going to be _very_ interesting. So you'll definitely want to read that. Okay, bye now! See you at the third chapter! Oh, and don't forget to tell me how my writing is! What's good, what isn't, and what needs work on. Thanks!


	3. Friends Are Hazardous To Your Health

Okay, so here it is, chapter three! Yay! I was going to put this up for another two days, but hey, I had it done so yay! Again! So like, happy Saturday or something! I don't know, just be happy for the early update.

**Black-Neko-Chan's Magical Disclaimer!: **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! All I own is this humble piece of fanfiction.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't half bad talking to Ryou and Bakura. Marik had thought when Ryou had invited him into their house that he would be getting himself into awkward silences and meaningless discussions, but that hadn't been the case. After a while Bakura had retreated upstairs to his room, leaving Marik alone with Ryou, who he talked to for quite a while, and enjoyed himself as well. But now he had to leave and get back to his own house, which was proving to be problematic.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This cannot be happening." Marik couldn't find his keys. How this could have happened he had no idea. They must have fallen out of his pocket while he was sitting on the couch. But if that was it, why weren't they under the cushions like they should have been?

"What are you looking for Marik?" Ryou questioned politely.

"My keys. I lost them," He answered, once again looking underneath the couch.

"Bakura!" Ryou called, hands against his mouth to amplify his voice. Marik turned to catch a glance of the other white-haired teen as he slowly came down the stairs, scratching his head lazily. He looked like he had been sleeping, was even wearing baggy gray pajama pants and a black t-shirt to complete that look, Marik noted. He had turned back around before he could see Bakura raise an eyebrow at the sight of the Egyptian on his hands and knees poking around under their couch with his leather-clad butt in the air.

"What?" He asked, yawning. Marik glanced back at him again, and to his extreme surprise noticed that the other actually looked cute when he was dressed like this and sleepy.

"Marik lost his keys and needs help finding them again," Ryou explained.

"So?" Bakura asked. Any cuteness there may have been was gone. Marik got up off the ground now that his search had been futile and glared at him.

"So I lost the keys to my motorcycle and without them I can't drive it home. Which I need to be doing soon or my sister will freak out. It's already getting dark," Marik replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes for added effect. Why had he thought this guy was cool again?

"Walk home then. It's not my problem," Bakura shrugged. He turned and headed back to the stairs.

"Bakura wait!" Ryou said. He looked at Marik. "If you have to go home then you should probably go. We'll search for your keys. Bakura-," Ryou turned again to look at his brother, "I want you to walk him home."

"What? No! I'm already in my pajamas Ryou! I'm not going to go walk around town with him!" Bakura frowned.

"Oh don't complain Bakura! You'll just be walking him to his house! It's dangerous out there and I wouldn't want Marik to get into any trouble because we were too rude to make sure he was accompanied," Ryou exclaimed.

"Well then why don't you go? He's your friend isn't he?" Bakura complained.

"I would go," Ryou sniffed, "but I'm sure Marik will want to walk his motorcycle home as well, and I wouldn't be able to help much with that."

"And just what am I supposed to do on the way home?" Bakura huffed as he crossed his arms in agitation. "It's not like I'll have anyone to protect me from any dangers!"

"You'll be fine!" Ryou smiled.

"Come on Ryou! I'm your brother! Won't you be even a little worried about me?" Bakura questioned.

"You'll be fine Bakura," Ryou insisted, still smiling. Bakura frowned.

"How mean. It's like you don't even care," He mumbled. Ryou's smile fell and his nice brown eyes turned into a liquid chocolate color as he pouted in front of Bakura. He clasped Bakura's hands in his own and protruded his lower lip slightly as he gave Bakura better puppy dog eyes then Marik could ever hope to accomplish. Bakura's resistance crumbled.

"Fine! Fine Ryou, have it your way!" He sighed in exasperation. He threw his hands up in the air and Ryou's bright smile shone like it had never gone.

"Yay!" He cheered. Marik had been watching this whole interaction between the two twins with great interest and amusement, and now he began to laugh. The great Bakura had been taken down by his brother, and all it had taken were puppy dog eyes. Isis obviously wasn't the only one that that tactic would work on.

"You can just shut up," Bakura growled. He shot Marik a positively frightening glare that spoke of a lot of pain if he told anyone about what had transpired, and Marik quickly stopped his laughter. He couldn't however, control the smirk that still adorned his lips. Oh, maybe he wasn't being the smartest right now by provoking the beast, but at least he would have fun before he died.

"You. Come on," Bakura pointed.

"Aye aye captain," Marik mock-saluted, still smirking. Bakura only growled again and disappeared into a hallway. When he reappeared he was wearing a long black trench coat that would without a doubt make him look very intimidating if he hadn't been in pajamas. As it was, he was in pajamas, and so he just looked completely ridiculous, which only made Marik burst out into laughter again.

"Hmph. Laugh all you want now. 'Least I'll be warm," Bakura scoffed. The two left the house and Ryou waved goodbye as they walked down the road with the red motorcycle between them.

The sun was setting in the west and darkness was slowly covering the sky. It had become quite nippy outside and Marik couldn't help but shiver. He quickly sobered as a gust of wind blew down the street and caused him to shake. Well, Bakura definitely had the last laugh, it seemed. That trench coat had to be warm, even if it did look stupid on him at this moment.

It was much later then Marik had thought it would be. If he'd known he'd have been out this late he would have brought a hoodie, or at least something that covered him a little better. Along with coming home so late, Isis would also yell about how he should wear proper clothes when going out so he wouldn't get pneumonia. Not that he ever had, and he wore this outfit all the time.

"Told you you'd be cold. Maybe you shouldn't wear such slutty clothes," His companion stated, breaking the silence. By Ra, it was like the other could read his mind.

Marik stopped, and placed a hand on his hip. The lack of movement only made him all the colder but he'd already gotten enough crap about his favorite outfit from Malik, he wasn't about to stand by and let this guy make fun of it as well.

"This isn't slutty," He protested firmly.

"Oh please," Bakura scoffed, "Just look at it. If those pants were any lower on your hips you'd get fined for public exposure. And in case you haven't noticed, your shirt doesn't quite reach the waistline of your pants like it should."

"I happen to like this outfit! And if you've got it, why not flaunt it a bit?" Marik asked in a teasing manner. Bakura smirked and leaned over the motorbike, close enough to Marik so that he could feel his breath on his neck. Marik shiver, and this time it was not because of the cold. He felt his face heat up and remembered what Malik had said about him wanting the thief. That only caused his blush to deepen. He hoped Bakura couldn't see it in the dark. That would be embarrassing. Damn! Why did that have to pop into his head anyways? He did not want Bakura!

"Spoken like a true slut," Bakura whispered. Marik blinked for a moment. That wasn't what he'd been expecting the other to say. Then his moment of confusion was over and he retaliated by hitting Bakura on his head.

"I'm not a slut!" He yelled. Bakura laughed and moved off the motorbike and continued walking.

"You are such a slut. You just as well admitted it. You know you're hot so you show off your body and your looks so people will notice you and pay attention. You're a slut," Bakura smirked. Marik opened his mouth to say something in the form of a comeback but couldn't think of anything. Now that he thought about it, it was true. He did like attention. That didn't however, mean that he was a slut. Who didn't like being the center of attention?

"Well you're a jerk," Marik mumbled.

"That the best you could come up with? Tell me something I don't know Blondie," Bakura smirked.

"'Blondie?'" Marik questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yup, that's you. A blonde high school slut. I bet you even do cheerleading in your spare time. You and the other Doublemint Twin," Bakura responded. Marik just rolled his eyes at the idiot he had to walk with and kept quiet.

His blush by now had thankfully faded. Why it had been there in the first place he didn't know. Malik did things like that to him (biting down on his ear, for example) all the time and he had never blushed. It had been awkward of course but that hadn't caused him to blush. But with Bakura now... All he had done was get close to him. Why would that be the cause of such an annoying blush? Regardless of what Malik said, he wasn't gay. He just thought Bakura was interesting. So why then...?

"Hey! Pat attention! I don't know where you live!"

"Sorry," Marik apologized absentmindedly.

"Hey umm... thanks for helping Ryou I guess," Bakura said quietly.

"Huh?" Marik asked, now fully brought out of his thoughts. Was he really being thanked? And was that gratitude he heard in the white-haired teen's voice?

"I said thanks," Bakura begrudgingly repeated, "for helping Ryou. You didn't need to." Marik had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Bakura was determined to keep his gaze on the road straight ahead of him and he voice sounded strained. Thanking people must be hard for him, Marik realized. He toyed with the idea of pretending like he still hadn't heard the other and making him repeat his thanks again but rejected the idea. As fun as it was sure to be, Marik didn't want to anger Bakura too much, at least not while his motorcycle was within reach. Couldn't let the merchandise get harmed.

"No problem. Your brother's nice. Now if it was you on the other hand, I would have just let you get you ass kicked," Marik smirked. Bakura looked at him and scoffed.

"Like I would have needed help from a pansy like you anyways," He smirked. The two of them continued to exchange insults with each other the rest of the way to Marik's house. By the time they had reached it their insults had become stupid comments that left the two of them laughing rather loudly and causing the odd neighbor to yell at them to shut up before they called the cops.

"Jeez. Why in the hell would you live all the way out here?" Bakura questioned.

"It was my sister's decision," Marik said simply. Bakura gave him a questioning look but he didn't continue.

The Ishtar residence was located closer to the outskirts of the big part of Domino city in one of the few-forested parts of the city. If you kept going, you would soon leave the city altogether and come to rural Domino. It could be a hassle to get places living so far away from everyone else (like school or work), but Isis had wanted them to be safe. Because of their other job they all tended to have quite a lot of enemies, and Isis had decided living in such an inconspicuous place would help protect them. And they could litter the ground with traps in case such an enemy did come calling. But of course Marik couldn't tell any of that to Bakura.

"Whatever then. Where should we put this?" Bakura asked. Marik got walking and helped Bakura wheel his motorcycle into the driveway. Seeing as how there was nothing else to be done, Bakura said he'd see him tomorrow and left. Marik couldn't help but smile when he said it, thinking that he just might have achieved his goal in becoming closer to Bakura. That smile disappeared quickly when he entered his house and his two homebound siblings cornered him against the door.

"Where have you been? Do you even know what time it is? And who was that you were with?" Isis demanded.

"That was his eye candy. Were you out on a date?" Malik sniggered. Isis looked horrified at that comment and Marik growled. Great. Now Isis would also think he was a queer.

"I'm not gay! And I don't like Bakura! When I was getting my motorcycle I ran into his brother Ryou and I helped him with some assholes that were bothering him. He invited me to his house and I must have lost track of time when I was there. Sorry Isis," Marik explained. He had to force himself to stay calm and not punch Malik for that date comment. Otherwise Isis would be all the more pissed. Might even add another week to their sentence.

"And that merited him walking you home?" Malik sniggered.

"I lost my keys somewhere at his house and Ryou wanted him to go with me to help with the bike and to make sure I got home okay," Marik said through gritted teeth.

"How thoughtful," Malik commented, now almost sneering.

"Just how do you know this Bakura person?" Isis questioned. Through Marik's explanation and Malik's teasing she had been slowly recovering from the shock Malik had given her with that eye candy remark. Now she felt like she was okay again, though she did have some questions of her own that she wouldn't have thought about asking before.

"They met at school. Bakura was the one whose fist was thrown into our dear brother's face and got the two of us into trouble. Charming isn't it? Like something out of a crappy romance movie, only violent. True love at first punch. Ah, it's almost poetic," Malik said before Marik could get a chance. Isis was frowning when he finished and right away Marik knew any chance he'd had of getting her to like Bakura was slim to none. Ra was his brother a bastard!

"I knew him before that! I had kind of been... well um... I guess you could just say that I knew him before that happened," Marik explained in an attempt to alleviate the situation. He really hadn't thought that one out. About halfway through his failed effort he'd realized telling Isis about how he'd been practically stalking the other teen by watching him because he'd thought he was interesting was not the way to make things better. And now Malik had more ammo.

It was because the gods hated him that Malik once again opened his big mouth, hair particularly spiky today and helping him look more like a deranged escapee from some mental institute then that wide scary grin of his already did, and so thoughtfully pointed out what Marik wished specifically to not be pointed out. "What he means by that is that for quite a while now our brother has been watching Bakura quite intently. Half the time he has no idea what's going on in that classroom. Notice how it's his worst subject? And he used to be so good at History too. Guess Bakura's more important. And did I mention that as well as being so good at grabbing my idiot twin's attention; Bakura is also rumored to be quite good at thievery. Isn't that a wonderful life skill sister dearest?" Malik grinned. Of course he'd had to elaborate on that little aspect of Bakura too. Now Marik really wanted to punch him. Moron was getting him into trouble and was loving every second of it. Punching him would have to wait however, as Marik had some damage control to attend to.

"I was only watching him because I thought he was interesting!" He responded quickly, wanting to skim over that as fast as he could. Especially since it was true that his History grade had dropped a little. "Bakura's really not that bad of a guy! He only punched me and got us into a fight because Malik started it in the first place anyways! And I know he seems like an asshole, and while I guess he sort of it, but at least he helped me with my bike and walked me home right?"

"Marik," Isis interrupted softly. Both twins looked at their sister. She seemed troubled and worried, and Marik slowly stopped talking. Sure Malik had made Bakura seem bad, but had it really been that bad? The last time he'd seen Isis look like this had been back in Egypt.

"Marik, do you know why I had us move away from Egypt? There were a lot of reasons, but one of them was because I wanted to get both of you away from the Ghouls and anyone like that. Things were so bad there, Marik. You won't think so but the trouble you and your brother got into and the things you did... I was always so worried and I felt like I couldn't help the two of you... I thought one day I'd get a call saying both of you had been killed! What would I have done then? What would Rishid and I have done without you two?" Isis cried out. Her large blue eyes were filled with tears, and Marik felt all his anger quickly fade at the sight. Even Malik lost his grin and stood awkwardly beside him.

"I wanted to get both of you away from all that. And now that I have it looks like you're meeting the same type of people again! I want to keep you safe Marik! And this boy is a thief? You haven't been stealing again, have you, Marik?" Isis questioned. Guilt shot through him and Marik turned his eyes downward to escape his sister's searching gaze. The Sennen Rod he had just earlier shown to Bakura that he had stolen from the very museum his sister worked at weighed heavily against his thigh where he'd concealed it. And then there were the other six stashed upstairs in his room along with the ramen he'd hidden from his brother.

"I know that Malik has a tendency to lie, especially when it gets someone in trouble, but this sounded like the truth Marik. Is this person, Bakura, really like this? Because he sounds like the same people you used to know back in Egypt," Isis continued. Marik looked back at her and shook his head.

"No. Bakura's not the same as they were. I promise Isis," He said. Isis smiled. It wasn't one of the normal carefree smiles that he saw on his sister's face, but it meant that she was going to trust him and his judgment. He wondered if he'd made the right decision. Bakura was just some person he had met, interesting and funny as he seemed. Isis was his sister and he didn't want to hurt her or make her worry.

"Then I'm happy you made a friend Marik," She said. Friend. There was that word again. It made him uneasy. Friends weren't something he was used to. Was Ryou his friend? Was Bakura his friend?

"You'll have to excuse me now boys. It is late and I wanted to go to sleep. I've got work early in the morning and you both have school," Isis said. She headed to her room and left. Marik looked at Malik, who'd been quiet since Isis had started talking. His twin's face was blank, unreadable. Before he could say anything to him Malik also left and headed upstairs. Marik stood alone in his hallway for a moment before following him. He dressed in pajamas and closed the door to his room before falling asleep in the dark.

00000

Marik woke up late the next day. His alarm for some suspicious reason had not gone off. Which was strange, because he remembered switching it on. And Malik was gone, so obviously his had gone off and he had just decided to not wake his brother. Which led Marik to believe that the reason his alarm had not gone off was because his evil twin had sabotaged it.

Normally he would have just ridden his bike to school, but the only problem with that was that he didn't have his keys. So that left walking to school. The problem with that was if Marik walked to school he would arrive late, and that would mean he'd get into trouble from his sister. So that meant running. Which he hated. With a passion.

Very fortunately for Marik however, he wasn't as late as he thought he was. While he ran to school he happened to come across other students standing and waiting for their bus to pick them up, so he just stood along and waited with them. After explaining the situation to the bus driver Marik was allowed on and off they went to school. Sucks for Malik.

"Blondie!" Bakura greeted as he entered the classroom. The other student waved him over and Marik happily complied. On his way to Bakura's desk he stuck his tongue out at Malik, who looked just as pissed as Marik knew he would that his scheme hadn't worked.

"Hello," Marik greeted as he slid into the seat beside Bakura. Malik stomped over to join them.

"Didn't you hear? This is a private party Porcupine," Bakura drawled lazily. Malik smirked and took a seat anyway.

"I'm only here to protect you. I would advise against being alone with my brother. He's been watching you for some time now. Now that he's finally talking to you he might jump you if you aren't careful," Malik said. Marik stared at his twin in horror. How could he say that? He knew his brother was an asshole but this was too much! Now the teen he had wanted to hang out with for so long would no doubt want nothing to do with him!

"Oh really?" Bakura asked, quirking an eyebrow and seeming way too amused by this whole conversation. "And you're here to protect me. Aw, that's sweet. You're almost like a condom." Quite a few ears turned at that and now Marik turned his horrified stare to Bakura. Malik's smirk lost some of its oomph.

"Too bad you weren't around yesterday to protect me," Bakura continued, oblivious to the looks he was getting from their classmates unfortunate enough to overhear their conversation.

"I would have needed it then." His voice was getting deeper, huskier, and more seductive.

"You should have seen the things your brother and I did." He looked at Malik through half-lidded brown eyes and leaned closer to Marik, whose face became a darker red then it had been when the conversation started and tensed up as Bakura's arm slithered suggestively around his waist.

"I should kill you," Malik hissed through gritted teeth. His purple eyes had become dark with fury and slitted dangerously. If looks could kill Bakura would have been very slowly stabbed to death, chopped into tiny pieces, burned, and finally any remains buried six feet under.

"Then try," Bakura replied, nonplussed.

"Okay class, get into your seats." The history teacher had arrived. With one last glare directed in Bakura's direction Malik left. Bakura moved his arm from Marik's waist thankfully, and broke out into a huge fanged grin.

"Well he sure is fun to mess with," He commented. And color Marik's blush had lost when Bakura had moved his arm was instantly regained when he turned to flash that grin at him.

"Umm... yeah. Yeah, that's Malik all right. Always a joy to be around," Marik replied, laughing nervously. Bakura shot him another grin before turning around to pay attention to the teacher. Marik sighed heavily. He felt like slumping down in his seat and resting his head on his desk. Would have too, if the action wouldn't have brought the attention of the teen sitting next to him to him, and that was something he definitely did not want to do.

He felt strange, like there were butterflies in his stomach, as the saying went. He understood why he had grown embarrassed when Bakura had said those things to his brother and when he'd put his arm around him, but this weird feeling he felt right now had only happened when the other teen had grinned at him. Why he didn't know. Or whether he liked it or not.

00000

The rest of the school day was uneventful, to say the least. The history teacher had to yell at Bakura and Marik several times for talking and not paying attention, and Marik found out that he had Ryou in one of his classes. The other, polite, white-haired twin was so quiet that Marik hadn't noticed him before. Even now the only reason he had was because Ryou had said hi. He sat with the other twin as well, and was surprised to see how much of a difference there was between the two. It was like they were the complete opposite.

After that he sat through the rest of his classes and rode home with tons of homework to do. Which he had been doing until his brother barged into his room.

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" Marik mumbled, jotting down an answer to his algebra homework.

"I have. I never quite caught the hang of it though. Care to explain?" Malik asked sweetly.

"What do you want?" Marik asked, completely ignoring the sarcasm in his look-alike's voice.

"When did you and that rabbit become so cozy?" Marik looked up from his homework. Malik's voice had changed from sarcastic to serious. His face was blank, unreadable, but that in itself was a good clue that something was wrong.

"I'm not. Bakura was just fooling around when he said that. Most of what I did at his house yesterday was talk to Ryou. He wanted to know about life in Egypt. You know that, right?" He asked.

"Of course I know that! But it doesn't change the fact that you sat with him today and not me," Malik snarled.

"Is that what this is about? Grow up Malik. I should be allowed to sit with someone else if I want to," Marik said. He shook his head at his brother and bent down to continue with his homework. If this was all his brother wanted then he wasn't going to bother wasting his time talking to him when he had more important things to do. Malik should know that it wasn't like he was going to replace him anyways.

"Look at me!" Malik shouted. He fist shot out and hit the wall. Marik's head shot up. Thankfully his wall was intact. He glared at the other, whose blank expression had disappeared and now wore one of fury. The fist not against the wall was clenched and shaking. Marik started -his brother looked the same as he had the day the two of them had met Ryou and Bakura on their stroll outside. Against his will he began to feel a little frightened of this version of his brother.

"What are you doing Marik?" Malik hissed. "What can you possibly gain from him? Friendship? Don't make me laugh."

"Maybe I do want to be friends with him. Maybe it would be a good thing," Marik replied, his own voice going cold as his eyes narrowed. He didn't know what was wrong with his brother but he did know that he wouldn't find out if he just let Malik win this little fight.

Malik advance toward him, slow, purposefully, frighteningly. Marik felt himself shiver, but stayed firmly still on his bed. Some instinct of his told him that perhaps he should leave and do his homework somewhere in the presence of Isis but he ignored it.

"Why?" Malik questioned quietly, somehow sounding all the more intimidating and frightening then if he had yelled it. He reached the bed and despite himself, Marik scooted away from him. Malik's arm lashed out and grabbed the front of Marik's shirt. He yanked Marik to him, faces mere inches apart.

Both their eyes flickered downward for a moment as Isis called Marik's name from the living room, then met. Icy cold, harsh dark purple and apprehensive soft lavender. Marik wanted to look away, felt an unexplainable urge to look away, but all he could see was a storm of purple. There was nowhere else he could look then at his brother. Malik yanked him again, tightening his grip on Marik's shirt and making it hard for him to breathe. He could feel his twin's hot breath on his face. Malik chuckled. Marik shivered again.

"Friends are useless my dear Marik. Friendship is a sad excuse for power. We don't need it. As long as we have each other, we will be powerful. We will never need anything more. These people are little non-important nothings. We are better than them Marik, and so we do not need them," He whispered softly. A hand lightly caressed his cheek, following the contours and curves.

"What if I want them?" Marik asked. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper, and strained. Weak. The hand on his cheek trailed downward. It stopped on his neck. Malik smiled.

"You don't need to be frightened Marik. I would never hurt you," He purred. Marik froze, eyes wide. Of course the other had seen his fear. It practically radiated off him. "You're my twin, my other half," Malik continued, still smiling a nice, half-smile.

"I'm not," Marik said, voice shaky and almost inaudible now. Malik's soft smile only widened into a hideous grin.

"Oh really? Your pulse says otherwise." He giggled dementedly, insanely. Mad. Completely mad.

Marik said nothing else. Couldn't say anything else. He felt paralyzed by fear, immobilized and unable to think or say anything. Those tiny purple eyes seemed to hypnotize him and take away everything except for that fear. Malik knew. Malik knew and he was enjoying it.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Both twins froze but neither looked away from each other. A force held them together, keeping their eyes locked.

"Marik? Malik? What's going on?" It broke. The sound of Isis's worried voice made both pull away and look at the doorway. Isis stood there, one hand at her mouth in a show of concern. Bakura stood next to her. He looked smug and amused.

"Nothing," Marik said quickly. His voice still wavered and sounded hoarse. He hoped that neither Isis not Bakura could hear it.

Malik's insane grin slowly faded to become blank. He released Marik's shirt and slowly moved away.

"Malik? Is something wrong?" Isis asked.

"Nothing," He said. He left the room with the same blank face and it became quiet. Isis looked to Marik for an explanation. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what was wrong with his brother. He couldn't tell Isis about what had transpired or she would worry or try to find out what the problem was. And with the mood Malik was in that would probably not be a good thing to have happen.

"Well, your friend is here Marik. So I'll just leave and let you two be," Isis said awkwardly. She smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her. Bakura smirked and made his way to Marik. He took a seat across from the bed at Marik's desk.

"What was that all about?" He questioned.

Marik sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure," He admitted. "Malik had been acting strangely. I don't think he likes me hanging out with you. Or anyone for that matter. So why are you here anyways?" That certainly wasn't a very subtle change of subject but hopefully Bakura wouldn't pursue it. He didn't want to talk about Malik anymore, or even think about what had occurred.

"Ah, I'm hurt! Don't you want me to be here?" Bakura asked, feigning a hurt expression. Marik smirked at him.

"Well of course I want you to be here Ba-kun," He replied in a sickeningly sweet fashion. He bat his eyelashes and giggled to add to the effect.

"'Ba-kun' huh? Already at the nickname stage, are we?" Bakura asked.

"Well you've given me a nickname already and I didn't want you to feel left out," Marik said. The two of them looked at each other with completely straight face for as long as they could before their lips began to curl upward and they burst out laughing.

"So why are you really here?" Marik inquired when their laughter had died down. He was a little surprised at how easy it had been for him to cheer up. All it had taken was the two of them acting like idiots.

"To return your keys to you. Ryou found them inside the couch and forced me to return them since I knew where you lived. That's probably a good thing, since if I had made him go he would have gotten lost. I still almost did you know. Tell your sister to go live in the city like the rest of us," Bakura complained. Marik smirked.

"I'll try, but I don't think she'll listen," He said.

"Well whatever. I don't expect to be coming here often, so not like it matters to me. Ryou figures that your keys must have fallen through the cushions while you were over. Apparently that couch has been stealing our things since we got it. There was a ton of crap in there. I told Ryou we should have gotten the other one," Bakura replied. He took the keys out of his jean pocket and tossed them to Marik.

"Great! I've missed riding my baby," He said happily as he pocketed the keys. Bakura gave him an odd look.

"You refer to your bike as your baby?" He asked.

"Yeah. So what?" Marik asked defensively.

"I just thought you might have been normal, that's all," The other teen answered with a fanged smirk.

"More normal than you," Marik mumbled. The comment either went unheard by the white-haired teen or he just chose to ignore it. Both occupants of the room fell silent. Bakura looked around his room, and Marik watched him.

He suddenly became aware of how unnaturally pale Bakura was. The only people to have ever come into his room before were his family, and now that Bakura was in here he looked out of place.

"You need to get out into the sun," Marik pointed out suddenly.

"Huh?" Bakura asked, not quite paying attention and still not looking at him.

"You're really pale," Marik said.

"Well thank you for observing that Marik," Bakura replied with a smirk, turning to look at him now. Marik blinked and then flushed when he realized that he'd been caught looking.

"Yeah well, thought you might want to know," He said quickly.

"Oh yes, because I hadn't been aware of my own skin color before," Bakura said sarcastically, going back to look around the room. "Ryou and I don't tan very well. The sun hates us," He commented.

"Oh." Marik's blush faded but he still felt embarrassed for mentioning anything in the first place. And that annoying little smirk on Bakura's lips didn't help to ease that embarrassment.

"So what are you looking for?" He asked to break the silence and distract himself from again gazing at his companion.

"Wherever it is you must have stashed that rod thing you showed me," Bakura answered bluntly.

"The Sennen Rod?"

"That's the one." Marik contemplated whether to show his hiding place to Bakura or not for a moment. The other teen was a thief after all, and he had noticed the greedy way in which he'd looked at the Sennen Rod when he'd first shown it to him. He decided to go ahead and show him, since it wasn't like Bakura could try to steal anything from him while he was in the room. And weren't friends supposed to trust each other anyways? While Marik was still uncertain about the whole friend thing, he did know that he thought he could trust the other.

He moved away from his bed to the dresser against the corner of his room, grabbed both sides of it, and pulled it away from the wall. He could feel Bakura's eyes on his back and knew no doubt that the thief was watching his actions intently.

Next he bent down over the spot that had been previously covered by the dresser and pulled up a few of the wooden planks his floor was made up of. Then he dug around under the planks he couldn't pull up and one by one pulled out the seven golden items he had stolen from the museum Isis worked at.

"Nice. A much better hiding place than I would have thought you capable of Blondie," Bakura praised.

"Told you I was a thief," Marik said smugly. Bakura moved from the seat at the desk and joined Marik on the floor to look at the items. The white-haired thief ran his fingers softly over each item, picked them up one at a time to turn them over and look at each aspect of them carefully, much as the owner of a pawn shop would appraise a piece of jewelry to decided a good price on it.

As he looked at them Marik felt the same feeling of guilt Isis had awakened in him only last night wash over him. By keeping these things he had stolen he was betraying Isis's trust. Something like betraying a person's trust normally wouldn't bother him at all, but Isis was his sister. His family. It was much harder to do such a thing to her then he would have liked. And not only had he stolen these items, but he had stolen them from the very museum Isis worked at. He might as well have been spitting in her face.

"You can take them if you'd like," Marik said suddenly. Bakura gave him an odd look.

"Now why would you say that?" He questioned. Marik flushed slightly and shrugged, hoping to look nonchalant as to keep the other teen away from the conclusion that he was doing this for such a reason as his sister and not because he felt like it.

"No real reason. It's just a little dangerous keeping them here. I took them from the museum my sister works at, so there would be no way for me to lie about how I acquired them if she were to somehow find them," He explained.

"But it's that danger that's half the fun," Bakura smirked.

"True," Marik agreed. He could still remember the thrill he'd gotten when he'd committed the crime. He'd stolen the items from the museum the very day they had arrived. The museum Isis had worked at back in Egypt had closed not too long ago and Isis had been able to persuade the museum she currently worked at to buy many of the artifacts from the other one and open up an Egyptian exhibit. The Sennen items had arrived with many other artifacts and had all been placed inside a storage compartment until the exhibit had been opened. It had been easier to break into that and find what he'd been searching for than if they had been in an exhibit. Still, it had been a hard task to accomplish and Marik had felt extremely accomplished knowing that he had been able to do it.

"Well if you really don't care, then I'll take these two," Bakura said as he snatched two items from the pile on the floor. Marik recognized the two as the Sennen Eye and the Sennen Ring.

"You can take the others," Marik said.

"Nah, I only want these two. Besides, I couldn't take your Rod now could I? Or," Bakura said, pausing suggestively for a moment, "If what your brother said is true, then maybe I can." It took Marik a moment to figure out just what the teen was insinuating, but when he did his face turned a bright red.

"Wh-what? No no no! Malik was only joking around!" Marik exclaimed quickly.

"Really? Too bad then," Bakura said rather disinterestedly. His attention was on the Sennen Ring, which he was turning over carefully like he had done earlier. Marik's attention however, was pulled away from fretting over whether Bakura would now think he was gay or not and brought to the comment the teen had just said. The way he'd said it hadn't sounded like he cared one way or another, so maybe he was joking? Either way, that comment had sounded suspiciously like it was the other teen that was gay, and liked him no less.

"How does this look?" Bakura asked, interrupting Marik's thoughts. The pale teen had put the Sennen Ring on and it now rested against his chest.

"You aren't planning on wearing that, are you?" Marik questioned.

"Sure," He answered.

"It looks fine, just hide it when you're around my family. I don't want them to recognize it," Marik said. The Ring really did look good on him. The golden Ring accented his silver hair nicely, and drew attention to his chest, which was rather nice. There was definitely some muscle definition there.

Marik froze and backpedaled to that last thought. Had he really just made an observation about Bakura's chest? Great, now even his thoughts were sounding gay.

"Well, I think I'm going to be leaving now. If I stay any longer Ryou will assume I'm getting into some kind of trouble," Bakura commented as he got to his feet. He buttoned up the sky blue jacket he wore and successfully hid the Sennen Ring against his chest. Marik nodded and got to his feet to lead Bakura to his door. The pale teen left as the tanned one bid him goodbye. He watched him leave and headed to the living room where he joined Isis on the couch.

She had the television on to the news. Isis never really watched the news because there was never anything good happening. She usually only had it on to provide background noise.

"So was that Bakura?" She asked casually in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Yup," Marik answered.

"He seems nice," Isis said. Marik almost snorted at that. Bakura was definitely not a nice person. Even though this contradiction was quite funny, he didn't break the silence by saying anything more. Only the TV made noise.

"Marik... Earlier when we walked into your room, what was going on with you and Malik?" Isis asked hesitantly. At the mention of his brother the already uncomfortable silence grew only worse. Marik was silent. He didn't know what he could say.

"It really wasn't anything important Isis, so don't worry too much. Malik has just been... acting strangely, and I guess I did something to upset him. Other than that I don't know what his problem is," Marik answered after taking a moment to come up with a response. Half of it was a lie and the other half was just bullshit. No doubt Isis could tell that but she didn't question him anymore. Perhaps she was also able to identify how hard it had been for him to even come up with that.

The news sounded throughout the quiet living room, talking about some man who had killed and wounded several people at the park when he'd taken a gun there earlier to a brother and sister who were both too caught up in their own thoughts to notice. The third sibling sat up in his room, also able to hear the sounds of the television, thought he wasn't listening anymore than they other two. His purple eyes were black with fury and tiny inside his wide-eyed gaze. He gripped fistfuls of his dark blonde hair as small tremors ran through his body.

He was trying to calm himself. He wasn't always quite right in the head, but even he knew that it was insane to be this bothered. It was only something so simple as friends. What did it matter if he wanted them? It didn't. Not at all. But still... it made him so mad. Why did he need friends? What good were they?

"Marik... Do I have to kill your little friend?"

Marik was his. His brother. His twin. His other half. He couldn't allow him to be taken away.

"I've done it before, haven't I?"

* * *

Le gasp! What exactly is Malik planning? Could it be something bad? Who knows? I knows, heehee. And! Marik is starting to like Bakura! Even if he doesn't quite realize that, heheh.

So, just a few things to say, since I seem to like talking and making my end author notes really long. This chapter really made me love Malik. Like, he's really funny in it, and I think his character really shines in this one. Of course I love my other characters as well, but I don't know, there's just something about Malik that's really funny and makes me luvers him.

So I write out my chapters before I type them that way I can change things and make them better and stuff. When I first had this chapter planned out and written and whatnot, Malik never went psycho and the scene with Isis worrying over Marik's choice of friends wasn't as deep. So it's kind of funny, but these two alterations just made my story a lot more in-depth I think, and now I'm going to have to add in some things that I never would have had before. I think it's interesting.

Heheh, how do you all like Marik's nickname for Bakura? It seems most of what I read have have Marik calling him "Kura" and every so often there's a "Baku" thrown in there. So because I wanted to be a nonconformist or something I was all like "I know! I'll use Ba-kun!" I think it's cute.

And now one more thing before I finally stop talking that is completely random, has anyone ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde? I'm reading it for a research paper in my English Honors class. No, I'm not asking for help or anything, I just really really like this book, so I was curious to know if anyone else has read it. And maybe I'd like to obsess over it with someone xD

So yup, there was chapter three in all it's gloriousness. Told you it'd be interesting didn't I? So review please! And remember to tell me any mistakes or constuctive criticism! Hey, anyone watch the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Series? Episode 33 ftw XDD


	4. White Hair

Woo, here was are at chapter four! Yay! Before we get this show on the road, I would like to make a special shout out to **melrocks622** because coincidentally it is her birthday today! Yay, good for you!

**Disclaimer!:** The series Yu-Gi-Oh is unowned by Black-Neko-Chan. Though Black-Neko-Chan does own many things, sadly enough Yu-Gi-Oh is not one of them, though she is thinking about asking for it when her own birthday come rolling around again. But she fully acknowledges that that shall not happen, so that is why she must make this piece of fanfiction. Now go read it. And love it.

* * *

"I'm back Ryou," Bakura said as he entered the house. Ryou was sitting on the couch with a book open on his lap, presumably doing homework.

"Did you have a good time at Marik's house?" He inquired.

"I only went over there to give him back his keys Ryou," Bakura said as he took a seat on the couch.

"So? That doesn't mean you couldn't have had a good time," Ryou replied. Bakura sighed. His brother was so nosy!

"I had an interesting time okay? When I walked into his room it looked like he and his brother were about to make out or something." Ryou made an odd, scrunched up face at that comment.

"You don't think they're like that, do you?" He asked, sounding perplexed. Bakura laughed.

"Nah, I don't think so. Although Porcupine does seems to be a little too interested in his brother for it to be healthy," He responded, then chuckled. "Guess that must suck for you. There'd be no chance of you getting with the crazier of the two Doublemint Twins then, ne Ryou?" Ryou's face instantly flushed and he looked indignant, which only made his brother's chuckles turn into full-blown laughter.

"I do not want to 'get with him!'" He insisted.

"Sure you do! You already admitted to having the hots for him, so why wouldn't you want to have a bit of fun?" Bakura teased, easily amused by watching his twin's flustered stuttering as he tried to deny this.

"Oh, you're a jerk!" Ryou exclaimed.

"This I have been told," Bakura agreed once his laughter had died down. Ryou's whole face was bright red and he looked him he was pouting, which only made his brother want to laugh even more, but he refrained from doing this. Fun as teasing Ryou even more would be, he knew his younger brother didn't like it, and he didn't want to upset the other.

Well I'm sure you wouldn't want Marik to be with Malik, would you?" Ryou asked.

"If I didn't know any better little brother, I would think you seem very eager to talk about Marik with me. You wouldn't be trying to play matchmaker, now would you?" Bakura questioned as he cocked an eyebrow. He expected Ryou to deny this accusation, but instead he did just the opposite.

"I want you to be happy Bakura," He said softly, now completely serious. Bakura was a little taken aback by the sudden mood change.

"I'm happy now Ryou," Bakura said lightly, trying to turn the whole subject into a joke. Ryou frowned and looked at him with big, sad mocha brown eyes and Bakura reluctantly became serious.

"But you don't have anyone with you. Aren't you lonely?" Ryou asked. He began to twirl a piece of his ivory-colored hair around one finger. Bakura frowned slightly and pulled Ryou against his chest and wrapped his arms around him in a sort of half-hug.

"I'm not lonely. I've got you here," Bakura said as he placed his chin atop his brother's shoulder. Ryou shifted slightly, no doubt from the ticklish feeling of his breath against his ear. Ryou leant back against Bakura's chest and sighed.

"Are you sure? I'm just one person," Ryou said. Bakura felt an urge to roll his eyes but controlled it. He hated it when Ryou acted like this. His brother went through these strange stages of self-doubt and became depressed. It had been such a long time since it had happened that Bakura had thought he might have grown out of them, or something, but now here he was doing it again. He wondered what it was that had brought this on.

"You're the only person I can stand to be around. Everyone else is a nuisance at best. I don't need some kind of deep relationship to make me happy," Bakura said.

"But if you found the right person I'm sure you would be," Ryou insisted.

"Ryou," Bakura called. Ryou turned his head sideways to look at him.

"I am fine," Bakura insisted, enunciating each word carefully so the other would understand. He took the hand Ryou was using to play with his hair in his own, and moved his chin from Ryou's shoulder to make sure he had the other's attention completely. Ryou turned his gaze away from his for a moment, and then looked back. The saddened look was gone from his face and replace with one of a hesitant determination. Bakura was again surprised by how fast he could change moods.

"Well will you at least give Marik a chance? Even if you don't think it would make you happy, could you at least try? For me?" Ryou asked hopefully. He looked up at him cutely, and Bakura fought the urge to smile and lost. He laughed softly, and pulled Ryou closer to him in a hug.

"If it's for you of course I could," He told him. Ryou smiled brightly at him, then snuggled into Bakura's embrace and relaxed. Bakura chuckled lightly.

"What is it?" Ryou inquired.

"Nothing," He answered. Once again it seemed that he had fallen pray to his brother's innocent charm. Ryou could get him to do whatever he wanted, it seemed. The two sat there quietly, happily.

00000

"Rishid is back," Malik informed. Marik looked up from his homework to see his twin standing in his doorway, face as expressionless ad if it had been carved from marble, exactly the way he;' known it would be.

"Okay," Marik said. He placed his book on the floor and left his bed to join Malik, but the other had already left. He stared at the spot where he'd been for a moment wistfully, then sighed and shook his head. He wished he knew what was wrong with his brother, he really did.

For the past two days now Malik had been like this. He locked himself up in his room as soon as they got home from school and only came out if it was required. When he did emerge his expression was always blank and unreadable, and he hardly spoke. When Isis had tried to talk to him he had ignored her completely and gone back into his room, which both she and Marik believed was ruined. More than once they had both heard Malik throwing things around in there. Malik would not allow them to enter it however, to see the extent of the damage he had caused.

Marik sighed again and headed down the stairs. Maybe Rishid would be able to talk to Malik now that he was back. Marik hoped he would be able to, but realistically he doubted it. Rishid would have no more luck with him than Isis. Most likely the only person that would be able to get Malik to talk was him. He had always been the closest to Malik. Maybe it was because they were twins or maybe it was for a completely different reason altogether, but Marik was able to understand him better than anyone else. He knew that he could get Malik to open up, though he was hesitant to try. He didn't want to admit it, but Malik had really scared him the last time they had been alone together.

Marik felt like he was betraying his brother somehow by admitting this, but it was the truth. He'd actually been scared of his own brother. And now because of that he was afraid to try and talk with him and help him. It was pathetic really. If Marik betrayed him, then who would Malik have left?

Rishid was sitting on the couch. He looked tired and worn out. Isis was tending to an ugly red wound that stretched up the length of his forearm. Malik sat across from him on the recliner, looking interested in the slightest, but other than that showing nothing. Marik sat down on the staircase so he could see Rishid and Isis, but stayed away from Malik. That action reminded him of how pathetic he was acting, and he felt disappointed in himself.

"How did things go Rishid?" He asked conversationally to disrupt the silence.

"My information was slightly incorrect. There were two more than I thought there would be, so things were more difficult than I'd envisioned. Perhaps I should have taken you two along with me like you'd suggested," Rishid replied jokingly.

"I guess so," Marik said. He smiled a fake smile and the silence continued. Rishid winced as Isis put a towel soaked with disinfectant on his wound.

"We'll have to be more careful in the future. If your information had been off anymore or if you weren't as good a hunter as you are you could have come back with worse injuries that just this," She murmured.

"That's unnecessary. The information was wrong, but what's happened has happened and I'm fine," Rishid soothed. Isis's blue eyes flashed angrily.

"This time you were okay. But what about the next? What happens if things don't turn out so nicely? You know how dangerous what we do is. There's no point in making it even more so by having faulty information," Isis lashed out. Rishid winced again as she moved the towel.

"How has school been? Have either of you gotten in trouble again?" Rishid questioned, changing the subject. Not that Marik blamed him. When Isis was determined to get her way there was no stopping her and no point in arguing with her.

"It's been fine," Marik answered. He looked at his twin to see if he would add anything to the conversation, but the other stayed quiet.

"Marik became friends with the boy he got in a fight with," Isis said. Malik's face darkened for a split-second, then it was back to normal as if nothing had happened. If Marik hadn't been looking at him he probably wouldn't have even noticed. Not that it helped him in any sort of way to figure out that was wrong. He'd already known of Malik's dislike for Bakura.

"He's not my friend. We just sit next to each other in class, that's all. Nothing more," Marik said. Malik turned slightly toward him at that, and Marik wondered whether the movement meant anything.

"Well you seem like friends to me," Isis amended. She had finished with the towel by now and was covering up the wound in gauze.

"Is he a good person?" Rishid inquired.

"Marik said he was. I met him briefly and he seemed nice," Isis said.

"Well then maybe you should become friends with him Marik. Might be a good thing," Rishid commented.

"Yeah, maybe," Marik agreed softly. Maybe becoming friends with Bakura would be a good thing? That was the advice he seemed to be receiving all pointed to that anyways. He was unsure though. Friends weren't something he was used to. If he did become friends with the thief he would have no clue what to do and how to act. And there was the question of how Malik would react to it. Marik was going to assume not well.

"How about you Malik? You haven't said one word since I got back. How are you?" Rishid questioned. Isis stopped her bandaging of Rishid's arm and diverted her attention to Malik, as did Marik.

"Fine," Malik responded. He said no more but instead got up, no doubt to go to his room. As he passed Marik on the stairway their eyes locked for a moment. It ended and Malik had left.

"Something has been bothering Malik lately. For the past two days now he's been so distant... I don't know what's wrong with him, he won't talk to me," Isis explained quietly. That caused Marik to again feel disappointment at himself. Now they were talking about Malik behind his back. And no matter how softly Isis spoke, he could no doubt still hear them.

"Do you think I should say something to him?" Rishid asked.

"I will," Marik said quietly. His siblings looked at him. Isis appeared like she was about to object, but thought better of it and decided not to. That was just as well, because if she had tried to talk him out of it she would end up succeeding. Marik really didn't want to confront his brother. Maybe it was selfish and babyish, but it was the truth. But he knew he had to. When his eyes had locked with Malik's on the staircase he had seen pain in those violet orbs, and he needed to sate his curiosity as to why.

He stood up abruptly and began to climb the stairs. He wondered if Malik could hear him. He wondered if he knew what he was planning. In movies whenever the character was headed somewhere they were uncertain about going to the hallway and their destination seemed to only get further and further away. For Marik this didn't happen, and he almost wished that it had. Instead he reached the door to Malik's room with frightening speed.

He stood at the door for a moment, wondering what exactly would happen when he knocked. Would Malik let him in? Would he even open the door for that matter? Marik shook his head and knocked.

"Hey Malik. It's me," He said hopefully. Marik heard the bed in Malik's room creak, and then heard footsteps pad across the room. They stopped at the door and opened it. Malik stood there, looking blank.

"Hi," Marik said uncertainly. His look-alike said nothing, but continued to stare at him blankly. He did however, raise one eyebrow pointedly. Marik felt his cheeks heat up.

"Stupid thing to say I guess," He mumbled, scratching his head for the sake of doing something. Malik seemed to silently agree with him. Marik fidgeted under his gaze, unsure of what to do or say next. He'd sort of been expecting the other to at least say something to him, and now that he wasn't it made things hard for him to continue. When, Mark wondered, had it ever been so hard for him to talk with his brother?

"So umm... can I come in?" Marik questioned. Malik stood there with the same expression on his face and Marik thought he'd been rejected. Then to his surprise Malik opened the door and allowed him in.

The very first thing he noticed was that Malik had indeed ruined his room. His was almost the mirror image of Marik's own, with the absence or change in a few posters of bands or other things because they had different tastes, but with the state it was in now one could hardly tell. Two posters had been ripped from the walls, one of which Marik recognized as being a Slipknot poster he had painstakingly got his brother as a present for his birthday two years ago. Malik had treasured that poster, and now to see it in pieces on his wall and on the floor shot through Marik and hurt him deeply. It made him aware of just how much he had angered and hurt his brother, and now he wished that he had come up here to talk with Malik sooner, instead of hiding in the living room like a coward.

The rest of the room was in a similar chaos. There were two holes in the wall that Marik could see of, and more than likely others where he couldn't. The wooden chair that used to sit in front of Malik's desk had been smashed to pieces, and the lamp on the desk was broken. Malik had evidently also taken his fury out on his pillow because it was ripped in half, and his clothes because they were strewn haphazardly across the floor. Marik didn't see the blanket belonging to Malik's bed anywhere, so he wondered what his twin could be doing at night without a pillow or blanket, what he was sleeping on, if he was even sleeping at all. Marik could picture a startling realistic vision of Malik just sitting on his bed wide-eyed all night in the dark. He again felt terrible for not coming up here sooner.

"What?" Malik asked blankly.

"I just came up here to talk," Marik answered. Malik closed the door to his room, in effect closing Marik in there with him. He couldn't run away now. Malik stood in front of him expectantly, and Marik didn't know what to say. He hadn't planned anything at all, and still wasn't even quite sure of what he should say.

"Well... we're all really worried about you," Marik began. He kept his eyes locked on Malik's face for any change in his composure. He could almost make out a phantom smirk, and knew that if this had been any other occasion and Malik had been acting normal he would have teased him for using such a corny line. Other than that, nothing.

"We can all tell that something is wrong, even Rishid and he just got back. So, could you tell me what's wrong? Maybe I can help," Marik continued. Malik was still silent. Figured he wouldn't give out his secrets this easily.

"Does Bakura have anything to do with this? Or Ryou?" His face showed nothing, but brief anger flashed in Malik's purple orbs at the mention of those two names and Marik knew he'd been right in asking about them.

"Okay," He continued, "So I already know that this has to do with them and that you don't like Bakura. I can understand that completely, but what I don't get is why you're so angry. I mean, you've disliked people I've hung out with before, but you've never acted like this." Marik fell into silence now, as he pondered the reason why this might be so. He got an idea and put it into action.

"Is it because of the friend thing?" Marik asked. That got the reaction he'd been looking for. Now Malik's whole face contorted into a sneer and he dropped the silent act.

"Of course it's because of that!" He lashed out. "I thought I was quite clear on that!"

"Yes, if anything, you were very clear on that," Marik bit back sarcastically. Now that he had achieved getting Malik to talk he was surprised to find that he was the one pissed off. He had known all along that Malik would be, but to hear that fury actually coming from him angered Marik as well. He felt that Malik's anger had no grounds while his was perfectly justified. This whole time he'd had to deal with his twin's strange mood swings, and now the other was going to act mad? Yeah right.

"What I need to know is why the idea of me having friends bothers you so much. Why does it bother you so much that you go fucking insane, huh?" Marik yelled, voice growing louder as he got angrier. Malik almost looked surprised for a moment, then he sneered.

"Why the hell do you even care Marik? Why don't you just go hang out some more with your little 'friends,'" He suggested angrily.

"I would rather be hanging out with Bakura than here with you!" Marik spat. Malik only grew madder at that comment, but hurt flashed in his eyes.

"Of course you would," He said lowly. "If we're all done now, what say you leave now Marik? I much rather preferred my own company than yours." Malik turned his back on him and Marik saw red. He grabbed his twin by his shoulders and spun him around so they were face to face.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell your problem is," He growled. Malik glared back at him.

"I don't want you to leave me," He said softly, and yanked himself out of Marik's grasp. Marik stood there, stunned and disbelieving of the strange tone he heard coming from his usually evil brother. Malik sounded hurt and sad, but at the same time fierce. It was a strange combination, and it left Marik speechless. He felt his anger drain as fast as it had come as he finally understood.

He and Malik had always been the only ones for each other. Since they'd been young, and especially the older they got they only grew even closer. Now that Marik was becoming closer to Bakura and even Ryou, Malik felt like he was getting left behind. And now that Marik thought about it, he really hadn't been spending much time with the other. It really wasn't much of a surprise that he would come up with an idea like that.

"Malik, I'm not going to leave," Marik said lightheartedly. Malik said nothing. He had his head at an angle so that his sand-colored bangs covered his eyes. Marik couldn't even begin to know what he was feeling or thinking.

"Come one Malik, you know me better than that!" Marik exclaimed. He still received no response and now he frowned. He moved closer to Malik's still figure but stopped when he didn't know how to continue. Other people might hug, but neither of them were the type to do such activities.

"I'm not going to leave Malik. Regardless of anything having to do with Bakura, you're my brother and the only one who knows who I truly am. It doesn't matter if I become friends with anyone, I'm not just going to start ignoring you," Marik said.

"Why should I believe that?" Malik questioned suddenly, sharply.

"Bakura's just some guy. Friends or not, there's not way he could come close to being your equal," Marik said truthfully. Both of them were silent. They'd both exposed too much of themselves in this show of emotions, and now they didn't know how to move on. Marik hoped that he'd been able to make Malik understand. If he had, then he promised he would pay more attention to Malik and do more activities with him. As long as he stopped acting so strange.

"Come on Malik. Please go back to normal?" Marik pleaded. He pouted slightly and looked at his younger brother hopefully. Malik silently contemplated this, facing him but giving away nothing in his expression. For a tense moment nothing happened at all. Then the corners of Malik's mouth slowly curled upward into a smirk and the moment had passed.

"How pathetic brother. Reduced to begging? I suppose I am more important to you than I'd thought," Malik said.

"Well of course," Marik smiled. "You know," He continued, "Our punishment requires us to clean the house, and for the past two days that you've been hiding up here the house hasn't gotten cleaned, and today is Sunday, so we need to hurry up and do that before the week ends and Isis gives us another week's worth of punishment time."

"Ah, I understand now why you came up here. You want my help with that," Malik smirked.

"Pretty much," Marik agreed. The two of them grinned at each other for a moment before leaving Malik's ruined room and descending down the stairs, talking as if nothing had ever happened between them. Isis was surprised at the change, Marik could see that, but she was happy as well. When they told her they were going to clean the house she just smiled and headed up the stairs, probably to so what remained of Malik's room after it had seen two days worth of him raging around in it.

Marik was happy that Malik was acting normal now, but some part of his conscious told him that it couldn't just be this easy. For now he had reassured Malik, but it wouldn't last. He hadn't solved the issue, after all, just merely put it off for a while. He would have to think of a way to solve this. But for now he would just hang out with his brother.

00000

A putrid smell lingered in the air with a thick, heavy fog of grayish black smoke emitted from the oven. The food that had come from the oven was also black and had been charred, didn't even look like food anymore. It looked brown in some parts, and it other's bubbled and popped, sending little sprays of brown, reddish goo on the pan the once edible food rested on. Why Marik had ever thought that he would be able to cook vegetable lasagna he would never know.

Malik hadn't even bothered to attempt to make food. Instead he just gazed at Marik's with disgust and scowled. Marik would have just made a ramen, but if he'd made it in front of Malik he would want some, and that was certainly not something he wanted to risk. Their punishment was only a week and a half over, and Marik was almost out of his stash.

"I don't think we can eat this," Marik mumbled.

"Come up with that all by yourself did you? I don't know why you even bother. It seems all we can produce is inedible even for rodents and insects," Malik drawled lazily from his spot against the counter as he gazed at the ruined food through half-lidded purple eyes.

"Well I had to try, unless I wanted to starve that is," Marik said, flicking a chunk of blonde hair over his shoulder with a shake of his head.

"You could have always made one of you ill-gotten ramen," Malik scoffed and Marik flushed.

"I'm running low on those," He mumbled.

"Well then," Malik grinned, a decidedly animalistic leer coming to his face, "Maybe we should do something else for dinner. I'm thinking fast food. How abut you, dear brother?"

"We can't get fast food without any money, and Isis is keeping our pockets empty. I think the hunger has gone to your head," Marik reminded.

"Among other things," Malik grinned, and grabbed Marik by the hand. He left the house with a quick "We're going out" to Isis and no mention of where they were headed. It was steadily growing dark outside, and by the time they had left the forested area around their house and were instead surrounded by big buildings and bustling passerby's the sun had gone down completely and the city of Domino was lit by artificial light.

The dark blanketing the city had a sort of appeal to Marik, who preferred night to day. Domino's night life also appealed to the sort of people Isis wouldn't like for the two of them to hang out with, for there were a lot of weirdos hanging out.

With a purposeful air about him, Malik bumped into one of those aforementioned weirdos. This guy had messy, greasy looking, dyed green hair that hung in front of his sunglass covered eyes in strands. He was covered in a big brown coat, and scowled at the two of them.

"Watch where you're goin'!" He called out.

"Why? You want to start something?" Malik asked excitedly. His pink tongue darted between his lips to moisten them and the guy fled rather quickly.

"I bet he thought you were a molester," Marik commented, rolling his eyes.

"So? At least I got this," Malik smirked, holding out a square, grubby leather item that was undoubtedly a wallet. Marik's eyes widened as he understood what Malik had just done.

"You pick-pocketed him? Why would you do that?" Marik cried, incredulous.

"Hmm? For the sake of fast food, my dear brother. All for the fast food," Malik responded. He opened the wallet and began to leaf through it, then frowned when he only discovered two hundred yen. "Guess we'll need a little more than this. Alright, you distract our next victim and I'll grab another wallet."

"No!" Marik protested.

"Why?" Malik asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what Isis said! She doesn't want us stealing anymore!" Marik hissed, grabbing his twin by the arm and leading him against the dies of a building and off the street, away from any potential eavesdroppers.

"So?"

"So she'll know!"

"How? Unless she has spies wandering around the streets of Domino, I doubt she'll be any wiser," Malik explained crossly, a little put off that Marik wasn't all for his ingenious plan. He was the one that did most of the stealing between the two of them after all. Malik had always been more in favor of forcing someone to part with their valuables up-front than sneaking around and stealing them like Marik.

"Isis has those weird 'Elder Sister Powers' or whatever. She'll know for sure," Marik said. Malik felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh at his brother's ridiculously immature antics. So he did. Marik pouted.

"It's true!" He insisted.

"Stupid. She only told us that when we were younger to keep us from behaving badly," Malik scolded.

"Yeah well, I don't know about you, but I know I was better behaved after Isis found out what we'd been planning on doing to the neighbor's cat," Marik pointed out. Malik stopped his raucous laughter for a moment.

"You are right about that one. I still don't know how she figured out about that plan," Malik mused, "But that's not the point. The point is that it's her fault anyways that we have to steal. If she hadn't put us under this idiotic punishment we would be able to eat and wouldn't have been reduced to pick pocketing. And besides, we haven't stolen anything else, so something this small is hardly betraying her trust compared to the things we used to do," He reasoned. Marik was silent. His brother could make sense sometimes. The only problem with that line of reasoning that Marik had stolen something bigger than a wallet.

"You haven't stolen anything, correct brother?" Malik questioned. Marik looked up at him in surprise. He didn't know did he? Not that Malik would care that much, but if he knew maybe Isis did too. Bakura, that moron, had worn the Sennen Ring around his neck at school the very next day after Marik had given it to him. Had Malik perhaps recognized it and figured it all out?

"No," Marik answered.

"Great. Then let's go," Malik said, an eerie grin gracing his already scary features. And Marik decided what the heck, they were only taking enough to get some food when they could be doing something much worse. Plus it could be fun.

"So I'm the distraction right?" Marik asked, grinning himself a little. He knew it was bad, but Malik's good mood was contagious, and besides, being bad was so much fun.

"If you think you can handle that," Malik teased gleefully, more than happy that his brother was playing along. Now he wouldn't have to force him.

"Oh, I can handle that alright," Marik shot back confidently. "Her." He nodded his head in the direction of a lone teenage girl walking on the street talking on her phone.

"Heh heh. Easy pray," Malik cackled. The two nodded at each other with identical smirks plastered on their similar faces and Marik sauntered over to the girl, who remained unbeknownst to this plot against her.

"Hello," Marik greeted as he stepped into the girl's path.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly for a second before she regained her composure and smiled too eagerly. "I'll call you back later, okay Korin?" She said quickly, then shut her phone and had it stuffed into the depths of her purse before even waiting to hear a response from her friend. "Hi!" She greeted, gushing. "Is there anything you wanted?"

"Only to know your name. I saw you across the street and felt the strongest sensation overcome me. I just had to come here and find out your name. If it weren't for that I would have never acted so bold," Marik smiled. The girl giggled at him and Marik couldn't believe how easy this was. All he needed were his looks and some acting skills. Women were so... simple to fool.

"It's Tiro. And it's perfectly fine that you came over here. Actually, I'm really glad that you did," The girl giggled. Out of the corner of her eyes Marik saw his younger twin sneak closer to their victim.

"Really? I know if something like that happened to me I'd be creeped out by it," Marik laughed. The teen girl in front of him laughed also, a high-pitched, falsetto sound that made him want to grimace and cover his ears. Malik had almost reached the goal. His skillful hands were mere inches away from the girl's purse and their ticket to fast food.

"I'm sure I would have found it creepy too if it were anyone besides you," She smiled, just as Malik gave him a meaningful look and retreated back to the building the two of them had been talking by.

"Okay well that's good. Sorry but I've got to go now," Marik said quickly, leaving the girl standing on the sidewalk looking at bit confused at his sudden and rude departure. Oh well, not like he cared.

"We have achieved our goal. Let's go before the girl notices why I was so quick to leave," Marik said as he neared his twin and partner-in-crime. The two started briskly walking away from the scene of the crime and to the nearest fast food restaurant.

"You really did a number on her didn't you? She was completely enthralled with you. You get her name and number?" Malik teased.

"No luck with a number but I did get her name. Tory or something like that," Marik said absentmindedly. He could really care less about this stupid girl's name, he just wanted to eat! It was mean, and he did realize this, but he didn't care. Maybe later he would fret over the feelings of the poor girl whose name he couldn't even remember, but only after his stomach had been sated.

00000

"Marik! Get your ass out of bed!"

Marik groggily rolled over, still half asleep and with one foot in the realm of his dreams and one foot out. He had no recollection of what exactly his dream had been about, but he did remember white hair.

"Get up you lazy fool, or I'll leave without you!"

"Huh? What's going on Malik? What time is it?" Marik questioned, yawning as he sat up in his bed and saw his brother there.

"About 2:30," Malik dismissed, "Now hurry up and get dressed!"

"Why? I wanna go back to sleep. Come on, we've got school in the morning Malik," Marik whined.

"One of our traps went off Marik! There's a vampire!" Malik explained excitedly. Marik's eyes widened. Any lingering drowsiness was instantly gone. He was wide-awake now, and for the first time noted that Malik was fully dressed in black.

"Isis and Rishid already went on ahead to search for it. Now come on, before we miss all the fun!" Malik urged. Marik nodded and the other left the room while he quickly changed into black like his brother. Before he left the room he unlocked the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a machete, a stake, and a flask of holy water. He wasn't sure how useful the stake or holy water would be, but he did know that if they were going hunting, he was going to want a weapon.

He grabbed the three items and stuck the machete in its sheath at his side, then exited the room and descended the stairs with Malik and left the house. Without a word they silently split up and each went their separate way into the dark forest.

Marik could hear his heart thumping loudly in his ears as his adrenaline rushed through his body and he silently crept through the forest. He wanted to run through the woods in search of the vampire, body quivering and practically urging him to do so, but he forced himself to go quietly as to not make a sound. It was possible that their trap had missed the vampire, and if that was the case then if was crucial that he be careful. A wounded vampire could still be dangerous, but one that was merely pissed off was even worse.

Marik could understand completely why Malik was so excited. It had been a long time since the two of them had hunted anything. They had killed a nest of vampires not too long after moving to Japan and since then nothing. Isis and Rishid however, hunted all the time. The only reason they'd even let Marik and Malik help them out with the nest had been because the two of them had agreed that they would need it.

Even though both twins had been taught since they were young the skills required for them to hunt and had honed these skills through practice and experience, Isis didn't want the two of them to fight. She didn't want hunting to be their only life. The only reason they were out now was because this hunt was right at their doorstep. Isis would have had to wake the two of them in case they were attacked directly and had to be ready. And of course neither of them would have stayed in the house once they'd known what was going one.

Marik crept stealthily past trees and bushes, checking to see if any of their traps had gone off when he came to them. Malik, Isis, and Rishid would be doing the same. When they found the trap that had gone off if it had hit, the bloodsucker wouldn't be too far behind.

He hoped that no one had found it yet. He wanted that pleasure. Unconsciously Marik began to finger the machete that hung at his side.

He froze immediately when he heard a sound. Now Marik gripped the handle of the machete fully. He searched for whatever had made the noise. His heart pounded in his ears and was so loud that he marveled it did not alert his presence to whoever was there. He heard another noise and his eyes quickly went to the source of it. Some kind of small animal darted into a bush and Marik sighed in relief. He felt slightly foolish for being so startled by a rodent. Malik would have made fun of him mercilessly if he'd seen this.

Feeling jumpy but not any less excited, Marik continued on. He winced when he stepped on a branch and heard it crack underneath his feet and paused, making sure he hadn't given away his presence, then continued on.

Marik heard noise again and he froze. This time he knew for sure it wasn't just some animal trying to run for cover. He heard labored breathing and the faint sound of someone thrashing around. Marik took a big breath of air and closed his mouth in a thin, tight-lipped line, determined to not let any sound pass. He just knew that this was it. This was their vampire.

He advanced in the direction of the breathing in a painstakingly slow manner, all the while keeping his fingers busy with tracing up and down the handle of his weapon. Very slowly the bushes he recognized as being one of the areas where they'd hidden their traps came into view and the breathing got ever so louder.

Marik soon became close enough to see a figure lying on the ground as if dead. The only clue that pointed otherwise were the small tremors that ran through the figure's limbs that had created the thrashing noise he'd hear, and the breathing. He knew right away that this was not some stupid human that had accidentally found their way into a trap, but one of the creatures he and his family hunted.

Marik was so absorbed by the figure in front of him that he forgot to be careful of where he was walking. He stepped on a twig and the seemingly resounding snap caused the figure to sharply turn its head. Lavender met bloody red and Marik saw white hair.

* * *

Ooooh cliffhanger! Yay, don't you love them? So'z here's some stuff for me to say before you go:

I really don't like Tendershipping. Totally not a fan. Since I am a loyal Thiefshipper to the end, and it seems like Tendershipping has more fans than Thiefshipping, I consider it to be my rival. So now that I've cleared that all up, I've got no idea why I had that little fluffy Bakura and Ryou scene at the beginning there. ...But it's cute. And despite myself... I like it. However, since I'm not a Tendershipper, I'm sure it's not that good, so just excuse me if it sucked. Yup.

Oh, I totally figure Malik would listen to Slipknot. They just seem like a band he would be into. They're all crazy-like, and he's all crazy-like, so I figured they were meant for each other.

200 yen is equal to two dollars and three cents. Just in case you were wondering. Totally didn't know that myself, so I had to look it up, heehee. xP

I really don't like this chapter. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like it. Like, I feel that the whole suposed-to-be-intense-scene with Marik and Malik just... wasn't intense. I don't know. Maybe it's just me? Well anyways, this is just a temporary fix. Malik still has some issues, and let's not forget what he said at the end of the last chapter. So maybe when it comes time for me to resolve all that then it'll be intense. The only reason I half-resolved it now was because I didn't want Malik to be all emo-y-up-in-his-room-like. There is stuff he must do first! Meh, I'm sorry if I'm not making any sense. I tend to ramble a lot, and that whole not-making-sense thing tends to occur when I ramble. So whatevs, just leave a review and make me happy! X]


	5. A Shade Of Grey

Hello hello. It's me again. Yay! Anyways, enough blabbing up here, since I seem to do that at the end of my chapters, and this one will be no different. So here's the disclaimer! Oh, and sorry, but this chapter's a shorter one.

**Disclaimer:** Although I've said it every chapter thus far, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. So don't be thinking that I do!

* * *

It couldn't be true. There was absolutely no way that it could be! He would have seen it before! Surely! But yet... here was the proof, right in front of his eyes. White hair... There were only two people Marik knew who had hair like that, and one of them was lying in front of him. The vampire was Bakura.

He hadn't recognized Marik, and was hissing and spitting at him, all the while glaring at him from those hypnotic red orbs. As if to laugh at him and shatter away any vain hopes Marik might have harbored that he was somehow mistaken in thinking the vampire was Bakura, the clouds in the sky moved away from the moon to bathe everything in it's light and reveal that it indeed was. The moonlight gave everything a bleached out quality that made those red eyes stand out even more and turned Bakura's white hair into long strands of soft-looking silver. His long fangs-

(fangs that could kill you, he reminded himself darkly)

-gleamed wickedly as he hissed.

"You just going to stand there looking at me or are you going to use that weapon of yours, human?" Bakura spat viciously. Marik blinked slowly, not entirely recovered from his shock yet, and realized that Bakura was being very loud. He knew that his siblings would still be out looking, and if things continued the way they were they would surely be found.

"Bakura, it's me Marik," He said. Bakura's furious hissing stopped but he continued to glare at Marik with those slitted blood-red eyes.

"What do I care who you are? You come near me and I'll kill you the same as I would anyone else," Bakura threatened. Marik advanced toward him and he growled. "I mean it!" Marik ignored his threats completely, knowing fully well that Bakura could do no such thing. He'd obviously been hit by their trap and had been rendered immobile. Right now his threats were the only thing he had left. He was like a cornered animal, but what made it even more pathetic was that unlike that animal, Bakura couldn't do anything.

"Get the hell away from me!" Bakura shouted as Marik got closer.

"Shut up!" Marik hissed quietly. "Do you want everyone to hear you and come looking? I'm not here to harm you!"

"Oh sure!" Bakura bit back ruefully, "That's why your property is littered in traps! And that's why you've got that blade with you right? And why you know exactly what I am." The last part of that sentence ended in a venomous growl that made Marik's blood run cold. He froze as some basic instinct that had been etched into his mind by years of training and practice told him that that particular tone of voice was dangerous and that now was a good time to run away, because after all, Bakura was a vampire-

(and vampires were deadly, extremely so; if Bakura cold move he would no doubt make true on his promise to rip him to shreds, then drink his blood and there would be no way for Marik to stop such an event from happening because even with a weapon he was only a small, terrified human)

-but he stood his ground and after a small hesitation again continued on towards Bakura. As Marik came closer he growled and hissed and tried again to move but only succeeded in creating small thrashings. Marik bent on one knee, never more aware of just how close he was to Bakura's still hand, and how if that hand could move it would-

(kill him)

-be a lot of trouble for him. Almost immediately he saw the wound on Bakura's left leg where the trap must have got him. It was a deep wound, and was bleeding heavily. It would have to be treated.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Bakura snarled, exposing his fangs as his face scrunched up.

"I'm helping you. Now why don't you shut up already before someone hears us and inevitably finds us?" Marik shot back. Bakura seemed taken aback by his sudden ferociousness, and indeed, Marik himself was as well. His body at this moment in time seemed to be completely detached from his brain, clouding him in a sort of unaware, dream-like numbness where he had no clue as to what would happen next. So while Marik himself really had not even an inkling of an idea to what exactly he was doing, other than that he probably shouldn't be doing it, his body had taken over and was now moving him of its own accord.

Whether it was from surprise or because he had actually relaxed, Bakura's snarl slowly faded and his eyes almost reverted back to the hard brown color Marik was familiar with, but were still tinged with that fearsome blood-red quality. While this change served to calm him slightly, he still felt very uneasy about this next part.

Marik bent down, and with some trouble helped to get Bakura upright. He was much heavier than Marik would have imagined the skinny teen to be-

(almost like a dead body, which he more or less was)

-though most of that was probably because Bakura could not move and help. Marik put an arm around Bakura's shoulders and another around his waist and began walking with the teen.

"What are you doing?" Bakura questioned. He was no longer being loud, but that didn't stop him from speaking with the same angry, distasteful tone as before.

"We have an old shack not too far away that we use for storage. We hardly ever go in there, so you should be safe," Marik answered. Bakura was silent, and they continued on.

Bakura's feet dragged on the ground as they walked. It created a loud noise that terrified Marik. His siblings would still be out looking, and if any of them heard this noise they would find them and Marik wouldn't know what to say. He was hardly aware of what he was doing himself. Luckily though, they really were close to the shack. They hadn't planted any traps back this far, so there should be no reason for Malik, Isis, or Rishid to come back here. Bakura would be safe in the shack.

It finally came into view not too long after the two teens had started for it. Once Marik saw it he practically ran there with Bakura. When he reached the door Bakura suddenly became very active, his eyes once again bright, bloody red orbs, hissing and spitting like mad. Marik stopped, which seemed to placate him.

"What now?" He asked.

"Can I come in?" Bakura asked lowly, almost like he was embarrassed.

"Oh. Yeah, sure," Marik responded. Of course Bakura couldn't just enter without being invited in first. He was a vampire after all. But even in this situation, that still seemed as implausible as ever.

They entered the shack. There were weapons dangling from the walls of the small shack, either gleaning sharply or covered in rust. Old books and manuscripts lie on the ground in piles. Dust coated these leather-bound books and covered the ancient designs and words they had on their covers. In the middle of the shack was a long wooden table. Marik wiped the dust off it to the best of his ability before lying Bakura down on it.

"I've got to go now. I'll be back," He said. Bakura made no response and Marik left the shack to head back into the forest and pretend like he'd still been looking this whole time. By now all of the traps should have been checked and his siblings would be heading home. He would wait a few minutes before doing so himself.

On the way back to his house Marik ran into Isis. She asked him whether he had found anything and he told her no. She said that she hadn't either, and that Rishid had sent her a text saying he and Malik were waiting back at the house. The two of them trudged through the woods and back to the house in silence.

At the house both Malik and Rishid informed that they had not found anything out of the ordinary. Isis said that she had found the trap that had gone off, but nothing had been there. Marik shuddered at the thought of how close they must have come to being caught.

Isis thought the vampire -if it had indeed been one. They couldn't say for sure that it had been without any proof. While it was highly doubtful that another human was out at this time of night, they had made mistakes before- must have triggered the trap, which had to have missed, and then it had fled. She suggested that they all go back to sleep and check again in the morning for anything they had missed.

Isis and Rishid left. Malik stomped off to his room as well. From the scary scowl on this face Marik knew he was angry that they hadn't found anything. He wished he could say the same thing. Marik also climbed up to his room and lied down in his bed to wait for the rest of his family to fall asleep before he could return to the shack and Bakura.

He was slowly recovering from the shock he'd gotten from seeing Bakura there. That had been the last thing Marik had expected. Even now he still couldn't believe that Bakura, the very student he'd been so interested in, the one he was so conflicted about as to whether or not was his friend, was a vampire. It was just so wrong and yet... It made sense didn't it? There'd been all those clues right in front of his face. The fanged smirks, the pale skin... He was trained to notice things like that but yet he hadn't seen them in Bakura. Marik didn't think his skills had dulled, so it was strange that he could miss something so big. He was a hunter for Ra's sake! These were things he should know!

Yes, he was a hunter, but yet here he was protecting a vampire. Why he had done that he had no clue. He hadn't been thinking at all and had just acted. And now he was in a troubling position because of that.

Bakura was a vampire, Marik was a hunter. He should kill Bakura. That was his job and that was what he was good at. When he thought about it in black and white, it was simple. But things in life were never as easy as black and white. Bakura wasn't just another vampire. He was someone Marik knew, someone he liked. He couldn't just kill him. Marik was a lot of things, but a cold-blooded murdered he was not. At least when it came to people he knew. But that didn't change the facet that Bakura was a vampire! No doubt he had killed plenty of people he knew along with the ones he didn't. Plus, his family would expect it of him. They would be furious if they found out what he had done. So that meant he had to kill Bakura.

Marik rose from his bed after a quick look at his clock told him that twenty minutes had gone by while he'd been in thought. There was a chance that someone could still be up, but he couldn't stand laying here any longer. He needed to do something, to move around to help lead him to a decision. Sitting here wouldn't help. Couldn't kill acquaintances, but couldn't let a vampire live. Maybe talking to the one in question would help him decide.

A flash of light on his desk stopped Marik from leaving his room. His machete lied there where he'd put it when he'd gone to his bed to wait. The moonlight from his open blinds reflected off its surface. Marik grabbed it after only a brief hesitation and left the house.

It didn't take nearly as long to reach the shack as he would have hoped. The walk to the shack after he'd found Bakura had seemed to take hours, while his walk here had only took minutes.

Marik stood outside the door, wanting to prolong the moment before he had to go in for as long as possible. Bakura, a vampire, was in there. He couldn't move, but that only made things worse. If Marik decided that he had to kill Bakura, the other teen would be helpless. Marik had killed other vampires before, but they'd still had a fighting chance. He'd never just slaughtered one. Would he be able to do it now if he needed to? Especially since he knew Bakura? With a sharp intake of air, Marik opened the door.

Bakura was still lying on the table like Marik knew he would be. He raised his head slightly to see Marik. His eyes were back to their normal brown color and he looked like the same person Marik had gone to school with and talked to. But of course Marik knew better. Bakura's skin was still a luminescent pale color and even though his fangs would no longer be extended, Marik knew his canines would be sharper and more obvious than a normal person's.

"Do you think you could have taken me somewhere that looks a little less like some kind of torture chamber?" Bakura asked dryly. Marik was reminded that even if he was a vampire, Bakura was the one person beside his brother who he really talked to. Could he kill that person?

"Sorry. We've got a lot of things and not much space to put them," Marik replied. Their conversation for the moment being was so normal that it seemed like the two of them were at school, talking about nothing. It sounded so wrong and out of place right now.

"You think you could get me something to prop my head up with? The table's not exactly the most comfortable surface, and I'd prefer to be able to keep my eye on you," Bakura commented.

"Oh sure," Marik said. He began to look around the cluttered floor for so something to give Bakura, thankful that the task allowed him to stall a little longer. Unfortunately he found a large square piece of fabric with some sort of circular ward on it rather fast. Most of the items in the shack were things the Ishtar family had acquired through various means to be used against vampires. Some of the stuff didn't actually work, or they just didn't know how to make it work. Marik assumed that something like this would be used to keep vampires out of an area, even if you had accidentally invited them in. He thought that it probably didn't work, otherwise something this useful would be inside their house, so he folded it and stuck it under Bakura's white head of hair. It didn't cause any sort of reaction, so Marik had been correct in his assumption, but now he had nothing else to prevent him from talking.

There was a chair at the table that Marik pulled out and sat across from Bakura so that the other could see him from his lying down position. A heavy silence pervaded the already strained atmosphere, as both teens remained quiet. Marik tried to shake off the tension and began talking with the easiest subject.

"So you're a vampire," He started.

"And you're a hunter," Bakura countered.

"Is Ryou one also?"

"The rest of you family just like you?"

Both lapsed back into silence. Marik sighed. If Bakura continued to evade his questions like this he wouldn't learn anything. What would he do it he couldn't get a straight answer out of Bakura?

"Yes they are," Marik answered. Maybe, he thought, if he opened up to Bakura a bit and showed him that he trusted him with this information, he would open up some too.

"Ryou is one too," Bakura mumbled lowly. Marik almost smiled. He got an answer.

"How old are you?" It was a simple question. Bakura should be okay with answering it.

"Which one do you want to know? How long I've been alive or the age I was when I died?" Bakura sneered bitterly. His pointy canines shown and Marik couldn't suppress a shudder from running down his spine.

"Both I guess," He said softly. Bakura almost seemed startled. His sneer faded and he frowned slightly.

"You really want to know huh? Damn. I almost wished you would just kill me and get it over with already," He remarked. Marik grimaced. He hoped that Bakura was just making some kind of sick joke, but was this really the situation for jokes? Especially one so morbid?

"I'm not going to kill you," He assured. He took his machete from his side and slid it out of its sheath and tossed the weapon across the floor. "See? That was the only weapon I had on me." Bakura barked out a harsh, short laugh.

"I thought you were smarter than that Marik. You know exactly what I am and what I'm capable of, yet you forfeit your only weapon? You looking for a death wish? If so, just come a little closer to me. You interrupted me before I was about to feed and I must say, my throat is parched," Bakura kissed, allowing his fangs to slowly extend from his gums. Again Marik shivered. Bakura saw it.

"Scared? Good. Not completely brainless then." Marik frowned. He was allowing himself to be distracted again, and being afraid was stupid. Bakura was obviously unable to move. He would be able to do nothing else than make threats, so as long as the poison that had been on the trap stayed in effect, and it would, then Bakura was helpless to do anything. He was still a vampire though, and so Marik understood his apprehension, but there was no reason at all to fear Bakura. Not while he still couldn't move anyways. Marik stifled his fear and moved on with a determined air.

"I don't need to be afraid of you. As things are, you can't move and won't be able to for quite some time," Marik said, almost smirking. Bakura grinned evilly, not bothering to take his fangs back in.

"Not yet," He agreed. "But once I can you better be scared. I don't care whether you saved me or not, it you and your family mean trouble for Ryou and I, I'll happily kill all of you."

"I wouldn't let you get close," Marik said lowly.

"Well then I suppose this will be interesting, won't it? I wonder who will win," Bakura commented. Both teens quietly glared at each other. Marik knew without a doubt that if things came down to Bakura and his family, acquaintance or not, he would kill Bakura to keep them safe.

"What did you put on that trap to immobilize me like this?" Bakura asked, breaking the silence. Marik smirked. Now that they were on a subject he knew, he felt more comfortable now than he had since this horrible night had began.

"We coated the tips of our blades with dead man's blood. If it gets into a vampire's bloodstream it sometimes will make them sick, and always makes them unable to move. How long that immobilization lasts depends on how concentrated the amount that enters the bloodstream is. Rishid has invented a formula to help make the dead man's blood more potent, and we put that mixture on all of our trap daggers. Including the one you triggered. You'll be stuck here for about four days I'm afraid," Marik explained, allowing himself a small grin. He had the upper hand in this situation.

"Dead man's blood you say? I've heard of a lot of wards and rituals and substances that will work against vampires, have even had the pleasure of having a few of them used against me, but dead man's blood is a new one." Bakura truthfully sounded intrigued.

"It's a well protected secret that's been passed down through generations of vampire hunter. Many of us don't know about it, and the few that do usually only have bits of information but not the parts needed to make it effective. We only in fact learned of the secret recently after a run in with one of the select families that knew of it," Marik divulged smugly.

"Not afraid to play dirty then are you?"

"Well being a hunter is a hard job, and dangerous to. We make a lot of enemies doing what we do, so if playing dirty is required of us to succeed, then so be it. Survival of the fittest."

"Ha! You humans are a joke! Even if it means killing your own, you really will do anything to get ahead won't you? You call us evil, but we vampires prefer not to kill each other. Why would we, when every day more of us are killed by you hunters? And yet you act like you have it so hard. What about us? What about how dangerous our lives are? Every day we live in fear that some hunter will wise up to our facade and hunt us down! And you say you live dangerous life," Bakura reprimanded bitterly. Marik was taken aback. He had never thought of it that way...

"Well you kill humans! We can't allow you to live for that!" Marik shouted back defensively. It didn't matter if they did have a harder life, as long as vampires were out killing humans he would hunt them.

"Then kill the ones that do! Not all of us feed on human blood, but yet you kill us all mercilessly! I haven't drunk from the blood of a human since I changed Ryou, and he's never done it! So if we're not a danger to you why don't you leave us alone?" Bakura growled. His eyes were a deep blood red and his sharp fangs protruded over his bottom lip. Marik looked at those fangs and wondered if it was true that those deadly weapons hadn't pierced human flesh in however many years.

"You lying?" Marik asked suspiciously.

"As much as I would love to admit that I have felt the blood of humans flow down my parched throat, I have not. Ryou is a bit of a humanitarian, as I'm sure you can imagine, and he doesn't want me to kill humans. So instead I live a cursed half-life, drinking the blood of livestock and deer," Bakura sneered sarcastically.

"Is that what you were doing here? Looking for an animal to feed on?" Marik asked.

"Of course. Did you think I was here to kill you and your precious family and have myself a bloodbath? I'm not that stupid. It would cast suspicion on me if you and your family were found dead with strange bites on their neck," Bakura explained sarcastically and slowly, as it he was talking to an idiot. "I wouldn't have even gone past your house if it wasn't in these woods."

Marik was silent. He didn't know what to say. It was easy for him to do his job. Someone with a weaker nature might not be able to kill vampires without some tormenting inner battle on the ethics of it and the morality, but Marik could do it easily. Things were easy to accomplish if you looked at them in black and white. Vampires were evil, humans were good. As long as those two things didn't mingle everything was fine. But now this, this situation was seeped in a nasty shade of grey that caused Marik to cringe. A vampire that didn't kill humans? Was that evil? Was it good?

"So you're silent now? Trying to make me worry maybe? If you're going to kill me then do it already. I'm tired of this stupid game. Just leave Ryou alone or I promise I will come back somehow and I will make your life a living hell." Bakura's tone was indifferent, but his cold brown eyes and harsh, stern glare suggested the complete opposite.

"Will you stop saying that? I'm not going to kill you!" Marik snapped, feeling his patience wear thin. He rubbed his temples to help alleviate the migraine he felt coming on. So much had happened in such a short time and Marik felt like his head was going to explode. This was all too much to handle and he didn't want to deal with it. What he really wanted to do was go back into his house and curl up in a ball in his bed and sleep for a few hours before he had to go back to school. Not deal with this.

"Why not? It's what you do, isn't it?"

"I know... But I just can't."

Marik knew now that he couldn't kill Bakura. Not if he was just trying to exist, like he was. But if he couldn't kill Bakura, he didn't know what he could do. Could he really just betray Isis, Rishid, and Malik by keeping a vampire here?

"I've got to go now. School tomorrow. Have to get some sleep, you know? I'll come back to morrow," Marik said stiffly. Bakura nodded. He stood abruptly and walked to the door of the shack. He stopped with his hand on the door as a thought struck him, and turned again to face Bakura.

"Why do you always assume the worst? Why can't you just trust me when I say I'll keep you safe?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper. Marik wasn't sure if he wanted Bakura to hear that question or not, but he did.

"Many years of experience Marik. It's in my nature."

"Oh."

Bakura was a vampire. Marik was a hunter of vampires. He, just like any other hunter, killed those they called vampires, just like he should kill Bakura. After years of the same thing going on and on, the same cycle repeating itself over and over, was it really any surprise that Bakura didn't trust him? Did he even trust Bakura?

"Of course."

No. That was the answer wasn't it? Neither of them trusted each other, and both of them would rather this situation be over, one way or another. But fate, it seemed, was cruel. It would take a lot of time to resolve this.

* * *

Okay woot, chapter finish! Now, I've got stuff to talk about to listen up!

So here's the first thing. That thing with Marik needing to invite Bakura into the shack comes from vampires not being able to enter a house without first being invited. While a shack is technically not a house, I would assume the rule would work the same way, so long as it's a private place and you know, not a grocery store or something. Can you imagine that? "Yeah, ummm, I need to be invited into your grocery store!" I'm sure that wouldn't work very well. So yes, there shall be more of that kind of thing, and a lot of other vampire lore kind of stuff, so look out for that.

Second thing! I was doing a bit of research kind of stuff to see if there was anything that would be able to paralyze a vampire. Now, I admit that when I say research I mean that I searched the internet for a few minutes, so yeah. Anyways, I am an avid fan of the tv show _Supernatural_ (aahh, it's sooo good! I definitely recommend watching it! And Jensen Ackles is hott!) and in that tv show there happens to be a few episodes where the characters do stuff with vampires, and they use dead man's blood on them, and it pretty much makes the vampire sick-ish and groggy and unable to function and whatnot. I decided that it would be perfect to use, so I looked that up a little bit too to see if it's actually something that has to do with vampires or if the producers of _Supernatural_ just pulled it out of their... well somewhere. From what I researched (again, remember what research for me is) it looks like they did just kind of pull it out of nowhere, though I did find something that said the author Anne Rice has mentioned dead man's blood in her vampire books and said it make vampires sick. So, I decided it worked.

Okay, last thing. I know I said that I would put the date the next chapter is supposed to come out in my profile, and I do, but I'm not sure how many people look at that, so since this is kind of important I'm going to for this once talk about my next update date in the chapter. Well, it's not going to be for a while. Why? Because I really haven't even started chapter six because I've been busy with writing a really long oneshot (which happens to almost be done, so keep your eyes peeled. It's Thiefshipping of course), and I've got a big paper for my English Honors class that I need to dedicate my time to. Aside from that stuff, I'm also in a bit of a writing funk. No, not writer's block, because I am writing, just not as well as I would like to. I just recently read this excellent BakuraxMarik fanfic called Rewind 1 by Ezan. Anyone read that before? Ahh, look at me, totally advertising someone else's fanfic! It is absolutely fantastic though, and I love it. A lot. Unfortunately, while most of the time reading good fanfiction motivates me to write, there is just some fanfiction that's written so well that it actually makes me depressed because I wish I could write that well... T^T (Do I sound like a loser right now? I think I do. Oh well.) So anyways, I want to work a bit on my writing and try to improve it a tad, so with all these things going on it may take me a bit to update again. Just hold tight, because I promise I will update soon as I'm able to! Heehee, and while excellent fanfiction may depress me, it also gives me really good ideas, so I may come up with another new ficcy. X3

Ahhh, long paragraphs! Okay, I'm uber sorry for taking up such a long space at the end of my chapters! Does it bug anyone? Sorry if it does, but I don't think I'm going to be able to stop. I like to talk too much. X3 Well anyways, totally all done now, so as usual, give me a review, tell me how the chapter was, and show me where I made mistakes and give constructive criticism! Tell me that I suck! Heck, flame me for all I care! I'm still waiting to get my first of those. So yeap, byez now! Visit my profile for any chapter six info!


	6. Choices

Okay, chapter six. Sorry for the long wait. It really shouldn't have taken so long, but I've been sick, so I haven't been too inspired to work on it. Eh, my apologies. But hey, it's here, and it's the longest chapter yet!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Heck, I don't even own tons of money, so suing me will get you nothing.

* * *

Almost the exact moment Bakura could no longer hear the footsteps of the tanned Egyptian hunter leaving he resumed the activity he'd been trying to accomplish before Marik had entered the shack. Which was trying to move his body. No matter how hard he tried, the most he could achieve were small rippled tremors running through his body. It felt as if a tremendous pressure was all around him, forcing him to lie motionless on this table, helpless. It infuriated him to no end. He despised more than anything the horrid sinking feeling of helplessness, and even worse was being left at the mercy of others. A hunter, of all things, had showed pity on him! As if he were some pathetic animal caught in a trap! Well Marik would see soon enough, wouldn't he? What his idiotic show of compassion had gotten him. The very _moment_ Bakura could move he would tear that foolish hunter to pieces with his claws, in his debt or not.

Cursing his blasted luck, Bakura ceased his vain struggle to liberated his unresponsive body from the ailment that rendered it useless (Dead man's blood, he snarled. What a vile idea) and looked around the shack he rested in with furious red eyes.

The small shack was filled to the brim with piles of junk. Books, weapons he couldn't even fathom what use they could be, all items used to aid in the disposal of his kind. Even the makeshift pillow beneath his head was some sort of a trap. He had recognized the ward on its surface when Marik had held it up. Fortunately, it appeared that this family of hunters was ignorant when it came to using most of these devices. Not that it made Bakura hate them any less.

The weapons hanging from the walls or on small open surfaces or even the floor were all different kinds, shapes, and sizes. It was an impressive collection of deadly devices all in one cluttered shack, but Bakura didn't feel very impressed. Not when he was sure that quite a few of these weapons had been used to torture... On many of the surfaces of the various blades there was a crusted reddish-brown substance, sometimes a lot, sometimes just a speck, which Bakura knew was not rust. So not only was this cluttered shack a storage area, but some crude torture chamber? Disgusting.

Bakura crinkled his nose in disgust and snarled to himself. Now that he really took notice of it, the damn shack even smelled like old blood. Some of it was his own from the wound in his leg made by the poison-tipped blade he'd unwittingly triggered, the rest of it was clearly old vampiric blood. He wondered if the rest of Marik's family would torture him if they knew he was here. He wouldn't put it past Malik; crazy psycho that he was would enjoy it no doubt. What about Marik, his supposed savior? Had he tortured any blood-drinkers with those hanging weapons? Would he torture him? Even if the hunter had saved him and said numerous times he wouldn't hurt him, Bakura trusted him about as much as you could trust a fucking snake not to bite you.

He needed to get away from here. He wasn't safe and he knew it. It Marik did prove to be as trustworthy as he thought him to be and turned into some twisted butcher the next time he walked through the door, Bakura would be helpless. Unfortunately, the only one he could count on for help was Ryou, and he was close to useless. He didn't mean to put his brother down, but Ryou didn't exactly fall into the "fighter" category. Hell, he still cried if he accidentally stepped on an ant. Not to mention that his twin had no idea where he'd gone to get his drink. Yes, Bakura's current situation was the very definition of the word screwed.

He took another quick look around the shack, this time not focusing on the bloodied, rusted weapons but the books and manuscripts lying around. Did any of them hold the secret of dead man's blood in their bindings? Could any of them possibly aid him in finding a way to escape this prison and break free from the invisible manacles shackling him to the table in this damn shack? He supposed if any of them did Marik wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave them lying around, but then, did it even matter? Bakura couldn't move even his pinky; much less grab any of the books, even the ones within his reach. It seemed like his fate truly rested in the skillful, bronzed hands of the exotic Egyptian hunter. Of course. Fate always had hated him.

With nothing else to do but lie, Bakura's thought involuntarily strayed to the very hunter that had taken him here as he stared at the ceiling. As much as the vampire would love to believe that those words Marik had spoken of keeping him safe were false, even if it would be at his expense, he doubted it. For some reason unfathomable to his mind, Marik actually had meant what he'd said. And to be brutally honest, that scared Bakura. He expected fighting and bloodshed and death resulting from an encounter with a hunter, but his with Marik had been anything but. For some insane reason the other actually wanted to protect him! Ha! A hunter protecting a vampire. Was he out of his bloody mind?

Marik had nothing to gain from protecting him and everything to lose. If his family ever found out about this situation, unless they were unrealistically forgiving, which Bakura seriously doubted (with the case of Marik as a rare exception, hunters were rumored to be as unforgiving as vampires themselves), then Marik would be seriously punished for his digressions. And even if they never did, the moment this damn concoction flowing in his veins wore off Bakura would kill the brat himself. To him, the concept of owing someone else didn't matter. If Marik's death were required for him and Ryou to be allowed to continue their existence, then Bakura would gladly pay that price.

He had to know that. Bakura didn't think that Marik was stupid, even if recent events suggested otherwise. He had to know that the moment he was free to move, he would be killed. So why then was he doing something so unbelievably dangerous and risky to the health of himself and his siblings by keeping a vampire alive?

It didn't really matter, Bakura decided sternly. What did it matter to him how stupid Marik was behaving? After all, this irrational behavior had saved his hide, and that was the important matter. Everything else was just details. Marik was an idiot, and to make up for that he would pay with his blood. Even if Bakura couldn't drain humans of their precious life force, plenty had fallen under his claws, and Marik would be just another casualty, another body in a tower of nameless corpses that had been slaughtered to keep Ryou and himself safe, to protect their future and clear their path of obstructions.

And yet, Bakura couldn't help but remain curious as to why exactly Marik had decided to help him. The hunter had said he would come back. Until the dead man's blood wore off and Marik's time on this earth had come to an end, Bakura would amuse himself with finding out the reason behind this curious behavior. It was the only thing he could do, other than fantasize over ad over how he would kill the beautiful hunter named Marik who'd been foolish enough to let him live.

00000

What in the name of Ra was he doing? That was the only thought that replayed itself over and over relentlessly in Marik's head from the very moment he had woken up to where he sat now in his classroom. The teacher was saying something, though it may have just as well been gibberish for all Marik was listening. What in the _world_ had he been thinking? Had he even been thinking? Because it seemed _highly_ unlikely.

At this very moment while he was sitting in a classroom at school, there was a _freaking vampire_ in the shack not too far from his house! There were so many things wrong with this situation, so many things that could go wrong! What if Isis or Rishid had needed to go into the shack before heading off to work? What if the dead man's blood had worn off and he and Malik would return home to see their siblings dead on the floor? So many things could go wrong and it was all his fault!

He should have killed him. He should have killed Bakura. Last night he hadn't been thinking clearly. It had shocked Marik greatly to discover that the vampire on their property had been his classmate Bakura, and he hadn't been thinking with the cold level of clarity he should have been. He had thought that maybe he could keep Bakura protected from his family long enough for the dead man's blood to wear off, and then the vampire would leave and everything would be fine. Oh, what an idiot he's been.

Bakura had to die. He couldn't be allowed to survive. Nothing would be solved if he did. Vampires were vicious, single-minded beasts. Bakura had said that if Marik and his family meant trouble for him and Ryou, he would kill them, and Marik didn't doubt that vow in the slightest. Even if he did show compassion to Bakura and let him leave, Bakura wouldn't just leave them alone. No, this couldn't be settled peacefully. One of them would have to be annihilated for the other to live.

Marik had the upper hand. He had Bakura immobilized in the shack. All he needed to do to guarantee the safety of his family and himself was to take his machete from the floor of the shack where he'd left it the night before, being too tired and weary to remember to pick it up, and press it to the slender white neck... One slice, that was all it would take. Just one. And then Bakura would be dead...

"Marik? Did you hear what I said?"

Startled from his thoughts, Marik raised his head from his palm and his troubled expression melted into a sheepish grin.

"Sorry teacher. I wasn't paying attention," He said with a false laugh. The teacher frowned.

Very well. Could someone help him?" The ever-helpful Yuugi raised his hand to dig Marik out of his proverbial hole and Marik's head dropped again into the palm of his head as he returned to his rather morbid thoughts of killing his classmate. He caught his twin looking at him strangely, but he didn't ponder the reason for the look.

Malik would be able to kill Bakura. So would Isis and Rishid. If anyone besides him had found the vampire, he would have been dead by now. Was he weak for not having done it? He supposed he was. The rest of his siblings would have been strong enough. Malik would have killed Bakura without a single hesitation. Now Marik would have to be strong enough to do the same thing. Bakura couldn't live. Not if Marik wanted to protect his family.

00000

"Isis, I'm going out for a while," Marik said. Isis peered over the book she was reading and her blue eyes narrowed.

"What sort of trouble are you planning on getting into?" She questioned wearily. Marik's mouth stretched into a comforting grin and he waved her accusations off.

"None Isis!" _Just going out to kill a vampire_. "I only wanted to take a walk." Malik happened to be descending the stairs at this moment and he poked his blonde, spiked head into the conversation.

"A walk? Sounds like fun," He grinned evilly as he sauntered across the room to Marik's side. "Think I'll join you brother." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Marik and his pink tongue quickly darted out to moisten his lips. He was insinuating that they go pickpocket someone again.

"Sorry Malik, but I wanted to be by myself for a bit," Marik said apologetically.

"Suit yourself then. I've got better things to do with my time anyways," Malik remarked offhandedly

"Like doing the laundry. The pile's starting to get pretty big," Isis pointed out cheerfully. Malik made a face but sauntered out of the room as easily as he had come in. Marik's show grin faded just a little. How easy it would be to just stay here and join his brother with the laundry and relax in the comfortable atmosphere. He was tempted to do just that, but he had a job to do.

"Going now Isis," He said, renewing his smile.

"Okay. Just don't be out too late Marik. You've still got your homework to finish, and you're still grounded."

"Got it." He left the house and his smile vanished with the first step he took to the shack. His machete would be still lying on the floor of the shack where he'd left it. And Bakura would be lying motionless on the table where he'd left him. Everything was in place. Now he just needed to accomplish the deed.

He walked silently through the woods, being careful to watch his step so he didn't trigger any of the traps set around their property. Normally such a task would be easy to do, but while he'd been at school Rishid and Isis had placed more hidden traps, to be cautious. Better to be safe that sorry seemed to be the motto for the Ishtar's today.

As it was, the extra precaution forced Marik to be extra careful of his steps. The last thing he needed was to trigger a trap, possibly injure himself, and then have to explain the reason for why his walk just happened to bring him in the direction of the woods. Fun as that all seemed, he'd pass on all the commotion. He just wanted to get this over with as quickly and as easily as possible.

He didn't think as he maneuvered through the woods on his way to the shack. He didn't allow himself to think. In a situation like this, any sort of thought was the enemy. Marik knew what he had to do: he had to kill Bakura, because Bakura was a vampire and a danger to his family, and Marik was a hunter and that's what hunters did. Kill. Specifically, vampires. Which Bakura was, one hundred percent. It was simple, and if he thought about it more is would be complicated. Gray instead of black and white. If he thought he would question his every move and in the end might be unable to do what needed to be done. Which was definitely not allowed. So Marik didn't think.

For one moment he hesitated. Right before he opened the door to the shack Marik hesitated. A thought flitted through his mind—_Should I really do this?_—before it was mercilessly crushed. He opened the door and stepped inside.

He heard Bakura say something to him but he paid it no heed and strode across the small room to pick up his machete from where he had unceremoniously tossed it the night before. Its sharp edge glinted and promised to do its job.

"I'm going to kill you now," Marik said carelessly. His voice betrayed nothing, but almost the moment the sentence was uttered he gripped his head as a sharp pain shot through his skull. All the thoughts he had been painstakingly trying to prevent from entering his head took this moment of weakness to their advantage and bombarded his head, forcing him to grip his head tighter as pain blossomed in the form of a migraine at the base of his skull.

What was he doing? He couldn't just _kill_ Bakura! For Ra's sake, he knew him! Bakura was practically his friend, and now he was going to chop his head off his neck? Would he kill Ryou next? Like the other teenager would even put up a fight! Bakura would, but Bakura was currently immobilized and defenseless on a table. Would he just butcher him and then merrily hop along his way to kill Ryou? He couldn't!

No. He had to! For his family! If he didn't kill Bakura now, when the vampire recovered he would be back, and it wouldn't be to say thank you. The pained snarl faded into a grim expression of calm and Marik slowly lowered his hand and raised his head. The machete was still clutched in his hand. Bakura was a vampire, and like all other vampires, he needed to be exterminated.

Cold purple eyes stared at Bakura as he approached the desk. Marik's head still throbbed painfully, but he was no longer plagued by those pesky thoughts of mercy. Now he was again cold and uncaring, and very sure of what it was he needed to do.

"So vampire, any last words?" Marik questioned casually as he flipped the machete from side to side in his head. Bakura's fanged smirk caught him off guard and his uncaring mask almost slipped for a second time.

"Just to say that I was right," Bakura smirked. He sounded so easygoing. This wasn't right.

"Wh-what?" Marik asked.

"I was right," Bakura repeated. His smirk grew wider. "You're just lying scum like everyone else. Oh, I know that things would end like this, but you were so sure that you'd keep me safe from harm and protect me. But in the end you're a liar just like the rest of us."

"I'm not a liar," Marik said softly. He ceased his flicking the machete around and now it hung listlessly at his side. He... he wasn't a liar. But he had to protect his family and himself. And... Bakura had to die. It was unfortunate, but it had to be done. There were not other solutions.

"Sure! Nope, you didn't lie at all, did you Marik? Oh, you've always been up-front and honest," Bakura replied cheerfully, voice overflowing with thick sarcasm.

"I'm not a liar damn it! If I could just leave you alive I would! Marik yelled. He gripped his machete and swung it at Bakura's neck. He stopped himself when the dangerous blade just barely nicked the creamy skin, bringing a bead of blood to the surface. He glared at Bakura hotly. All he needed to do was push the blade down. Push it down, and end this vampire's pathetic life once and for all.

Bakura didn't say anything to him. His pale face was blank and no longer bore the venomous smirk. With his mouth closed, Marik couldn't see his fangs. He knew they were there still, but in this instant Bakura looked like the teen he had watched intently before the two of them had known each other and Malik had started the fight between them. And his eyes... Instead of the bloody red Marik expected them to be, they were a normal, dull brown. It was unnerving. The vampire had a blade to his throat and was already bleeding, but he did nothing to prevent himself from the fate that was in store for him. Not that he could, due to the dead man's blood, but Marik still expected him to hiss and spit. But Bakura did nothing. He didn't even look like a vampire right now. Instead, he appeared so human that Marik hesitated to push the blade down further.

"I'm not a liar," He repeated quietly. It sounded like he was trying to convince the vampire of something. That there really was nothing else he could do but to kill him. It was the only way to keep his siblings safe, wasn't it?

Bakura said nothing, and it infuriated Marik. He wanted him to say something! Argue some more with him, snarl and hiss, just do something more than to lay there with such an accepting look on his face. This was Bakura! Surely Bakura wouldn't just allow himself to be decapitated, but why then was he not doing anything? Why? Didn't he fear for his lie?

"Say something!" Marik yelled sharply as he pressed the machete once more against pale skin.

"Like what?" Bakura asked finally, voice harsh. "Want me to beg you not to kill me? Do it then mortal," He hissed, revealing a threatening flash of those sharp fangs.

"Fine," Marik said, almost of the verge of giggling. "Fine, I'll do it!" He raised the machete once again He had to do it. Bakura had to die! It was needed, wasn't it? Who cared it he was the closest person to Marik other than his siblings? None of that mattered! None of it was important! None of it...! None of it...

Marik screamed as he brought the machete down. It slammed into the wooden table with a _thunk _only a centimeter or two away from Bakura's slender, cream neck.

"Damn it!" Marik shouted. He brought one clenched fist down against the table and the other he made connect with the underside of Bakura's jaw. He yelled again and spun away from the table. He kicked at the piles of books on the floors and tore papers and weapons off the walls and threw them to the floor. His head was throbbing to the point where the insistent pain made it hard to concentrate.

Why? Why couldn't he do it? Why was it so hard for him to kill Bakura? He'd never had this problem before! He'd always been able to kill vampires. What made this any different? What, just because he knew Bakura he couldn't kill the other teenager? Oh, if Malik knew how much trouble he was having, how he'd laugh!

Marik ceased his destruction. Malik. Malik would be able to finish the job, wouldn't he? Malik had always had _fun_ killing vampires. If it were Malik, Bakura would be already dead. Why? Why could Malik kill so easily but not Marik? They were twins, so shouldn't they both be able to do the same things? Why couldn't Marik kill him then?

"Damn it. Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Marik swore. What could he do? What could he do if he was unable to kill Bakura? Was there anything? Other than to let the vampire recover and slaughter everybody?

Marik began to pace the small room as he tried to think. He seemed to be going in circles and his migraine didn't help to ease him out of this rut he was stuck in. The only things he knew for sure were that he could not kill Bakura and at the same time he could not allow him to live. But there seemed to be no way to resolve this problem and his frustration made him tired.

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air. Allowing himself to become worked up wasn't solving anything. He released the breath of air and quietly stood still for a moment as he calmed all his thoughts. When he opened his eyes once more his head still ached with pain but he had managed to rid himself of his frustration. Gracefully, he sidestepped the fallen piles of books and the new mess he'd created and sunk down into the chair he'd slide to rest in front of the table Bakura laid on last night. The vampire was strangely quiet, and his expression was guarded. Marik's eyes settled on the inflamed red mark on the underside of Bakura's jaw that had been the result of his fist, and he regretted punching him in the first place. The angry red mark clashed terribly with the other teen's pale white skin, and it seemed wrong.

"Sorry for that," Marik said awkwardly. At the sound of his voice Bakura's eyes swiveled to lock with his own and for a brief second they flashed red.

"'Sorry?' What the _hell_ is wrong with you? One day you say that you'll keep me safe, then the next you're trying to kill me, and now you apologize? What the fuck Marik? Make up your mind already! Just what are you planning on doing with me?" Bakura yelled. His eyes had turned back to their furious red color and his nose wrinkled back as he bared his ferociously long fangs. Marik couldn't help to shudder at the intense hatred reflected at him through those fire-red eyes, and he lost any determination that he'd possessed. What was he going to do?

"I-I don't know," Marik confessed as his voice broke. The weak tone he spoke with disgusted him but he could do nothing about it. He didn't know what to do in this situation, just like he hadn't last night. At school when he'd gotten away from everything he had thought he knew what to do, but now, confronted again with this undesirably complex scenario, he lost face. He needed help. And there was no one that he could turn to. No one that could help without learning the error he'd committed of being incapable of killing a vampire twice now.

"Would you like me to get some ice for your jaw? Or bandage your neck?" Marik asked, head down. He didn't want to look at Bakura and see what he'd done and what he'd been unable to do. He didn't want to face the smoldering volcanic depths of Bakura's eyes. He didn't want Bakura to see in his own eyes how much of a failure he was.

"Why bother?" Bakura replied harshly. "I'm already dead so it doesn't matter if you leave it to heal by itself. How about you instead make yourself useful by explaining to me exactly what it going on inside that psychotic head of yours?"

Marik left his question unanswered. How could he be expected to answer what he himself did not know? So instead, when he was sure that Bakura didn't want anything to soothe his wounds, he left, more confused and conflicted than when he'd come.

00000

The next day Marik's only thoughts were of the vampire in his shack. He was unable to concentrate at all on his schoolwork, just as he feared would happen. He'd begged Isis to let him stay home from school, but his elder sister had been adamant in her unwavering decision to send Marik to school. As it was, his lack of attention in class got him more reprimands than usual and alerted his twin to his strange behavior, who he'd caught eyeing his suspiciously more than once throughout the day. When he'd stolen away to the shack the moment they had arrived home he'd felt Malik's inquisitive deep mauve eyes on his back, though he chose to say nothing. Marik would have to be more careful around his twin.

When he reached the shack the sight of a sleeping Bakura greeted him. Even though the teen was still under the influence of the dead man's blood and was probably anything but, the vampire appeared to comfortable, lying there on the table. His soft white hair was fanned out over the makeshift fabric pillow and his face for once looked peaceful. His eyes were closed and his pale lips were parted slightly. His chest didn't move with the normal rise and fall motion of relaxed breathing, and now Marik had another question -did vampires breath?

Marik couldn't help but remain memorized by the rare sight as he walked slowly closer to the table. Bakura looked so peaceful and innocent while he slept; appearing more like Ryou than the ruthless, intimidating person he was normally. The vampire looked more like an angel than the bloodsucking fiend he really was. The only aspect that disrupted this image of peace and tranquility was the ugly black and blue bruise along the gentle curve of Bakura's jaw and the crusted brownish red blood around his injured neck and staining his shirt.

Without realizing what he was doing, Marik's hand lifted of its own accord and slowly inched toward Bakura's face. He wanted to touch that sleeping face and run his fingers through that long silvery white hair. The traitorous hand was mere centimeters from achieving this fantasy when a voice but through his trance and snapped him from his trance.

"You done ogling me now?" Marik yanked his hand back as it the other were poisonous to the touch quickly before Bakura opened his cold brown eyes.

"I thought you were sleeping." Marik mumbled, averting his gaze from those eyes.

"Only an idiot would sleep in the presence of the person who just tried to kill them," Bakura snorted. Marik sighed heavily and sunk into the chair across from the other teen. He ran a hand through his hair and settled his eyes on Bakura.

"What, you want me to apologize or something?" Marik questioned just as sarcastically, with an added eye roll.

"Not really, but I would like an explanation of exactly what happened yesterday," Bakura said. Marik shook his head.

"I don't really know," He admitted. "I wanted to kill you. But obviously I can't do that. So I don't know what comes next."

"So why are you here then?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Why not talk? He had a vampire trapped in his shack and there were quite a few questions he wanted to ask, so why not take this time to find out the answers to those questions? It really was the only thing they could do now anyways.

"Well ask away then," Bakura replied carelessly, eyes flicking up to the ceiling.

"Why can you go out in the sun? All the vampires I've ever encountered have been burnt by it," Marik said. Bakura's face darkened considerably and for a split second his eyes flashed that fearsome red before reverting back to their normal brown. Marik pondered this reaction. To him, the question seemed like a simple one with probably an equally simple answer. Was there perhaps more to it than that?

"All the ones you've encountered then were probably mere fledglings. Young vampires without any help on how to blend into your human world. It's the reason why there are fewer vampires today then there have been since the first of our kind was created. We keep changing more, but most of us prefer to live solitary lives and the newly changed vampires never learn how to survive. Most of them act too suspicious and you hunters come to investigate, and they of course, die.

"As we grow older we develop an immunity, if you could call it that, to the sun. Its rays still burn our skin, but we become able to go outside in the sunlight without being reduced to ash. Of course, that doesn't mean that it sill can't be fatal. The fledgling vampires never reach the age where they can gain this immunity before they are killed," Bakura explained.

"But that still doesn't make any sense. If the sun still burns you, then why can you and Ryou go outside in the day and look perfectly fine? Shouldn't it hurt?" Marik inquired. Bakura's expression, which had gone back to normal as he talked, now blackened again and the corner of his mouth twitched as if he wanted to snarl.

"Because Ryou and I have overcome that weakness," He spat, "By spending torturous hours in the sunlight, slowly increasing each interval we spend to increase out tolerance to the agony of feeling our skin burn. All so we could try to fit into this world better." Bakura's eyes had changed again to that intimidating red hue, which now Marik understood didn't happen because he was trying to look scary or badass, but they changed naturally when he was feeling strong emotion.

Marik felt his stomach churn. He knew of pain. Not the type Bakura was speaking of, but he knew of pain. But even what he had felt and had known didn't extend for as many hours as both vampire twins would have had to suffer to tolerate the pain of the sun. The sun was supposed to hurt vampires. For one to train himself to endure that pain and be able to live with it... how much time would that have taken? How much agony would have had to been felt? Marik didn't want to know. He didn't even want to think about it. He wished he hadn't asked. Because now he was beginning to feel pity for the vampire lying on the table.

"How old are you? Both when you died and how many years you've lived," Marik asked rapidly, quickly changing the subject. Bakura's burning red eyes had been positively glaring at the ceiling, but now broken of their remembrance they turned to Marik and quickly became brown. Bakura seemed slightly confused at the interruption, and took a minute to compose himself before he continued in a rather bland and uninterested tone.

"I'd just turned eighteen not too long before my life as a human ended. Since then I've been alive for about six hundred and twelve years," He said. Marik's eyes widened. The oldest he'd known a vampire to be was just shy of three hundred. But now he knew of two that were over half a century old! Just to imagine all the things Bakura must have lived through made him excited. Ah, all the questions he could ask now!

"Where did you live? How did you become a vampire?" The Egyptian hunter asked. His excitement made his eyes sparkle like amethysts and gave him the appearance of a child

"We lived in London. Though you'd never know it now. The hunters back home are efficient, much more that the ones here in Japan. Ryou and I were forced to move here about eighty years ago. By now we've lost out accents and sound like any normal Japanese citizen would. And I was turned by a young female who thought I was attractive," Bakura continued boredly. Despite himself and the situation, Marik felt himself smirk.

"Oh? She hot?" He inquired casually. Instead of the reaction he'd expected from Bakura, the vampire glared again at him with red pools of blood. Marik was startled and his smirk disappeared.

"That's not exactly the thought that had been on my mind when I discovered that I had been turned into some kind of fucking monster!" Bakura snarled angrily. Oh. That made sense, didn't it? Of course he probably hadn't wanted to become a vampire.

Marik felt like slapping himself to get some blood flowing to his brain. Did he not think? Every question he's asked so far had brought up some uncomfortable aspect of Bakura's past. If he didn't want to anger the vampire he would have to think carefully about his next questions.

"How did Ryou turn?" He asked carefully. If he'd learned anything so far, it was that Bakura could be very protective of his younger twin. He hoped this question wouldn't anger the vampire, but it if did he would take it.

"I did it," Bakura said stiffly. There was no anger evident in his voice, but his eyes continued to remain their crimson blood-red color. So although he wasn't showing it, Bakura obviously felt some strong emotion on this subject.

"Do you breathe?" Marik asked suddenly changing the subject once again to something that could not at all be uncomfortable.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "What kind of question is that?" Marik smiled, just a little.

"Well when you were sleeping-"

"I wasn't sleeping," Bakura interjected.

"-it looked like you weren't breathing. So I wanted to know if you did or not," Marik finished.

"Well I'm dead, so I don't really need to breathe. When I'm awake I do it naturally. It's hard to just stop breathing, even if you don't need to. But when I sleep, since there is no reason for me to do it, I don't breathe," The vampire answered. Not breathing? How strange.

"How about you, brave hunter of vampires? How did you become what you are?" Bakura asked, a little sarcastically. Marik's smile wavered. Well this he had not really been expecting. But he had already heard so much of the other's past, so why not answer the question?

"My grandfather's family had been killed my them and he vowed to get revenge. My father followed in his footsteps and I suppose we're following in his," Marik explained simply, shrugging. He hoped Bakura wouldn't make a big deal of it, but the vampire's calculating cold brown eyes zoomed in on him and the corner of his mouth lifted in a wickedly unnerving smirk. And that one visible gleaming fang was not helping the growing feeling that maybe this was a bad idea.

"So the only reason you are a hunter is because of your father?" Bakura questioned just a little too innocently.

"It's... personal as well," Marik said after a brief hesitation. Maybe if he offered a little free information the vampire wouldn't feel the need to pry.

"Oh really? How so?" Bakura prodded eagerly.

"They took something from me, and I'm not telling you anything else so you better shut up," Marik snapped rather testily. He had known it would be better off not to talk about his past. He rarely did even with his siblings, so discussing it with this _bloodsucker_ was out of the question.

"What about your parents? Where are they?" Bakura insisted.

"They're dead if you must know," Marik replied curtly, voice barely containing the emotion he felt. Even though he did this well, he could still hear the slight tremble his voice gained. Bakura must have heard it as well, for his smirk grew larger. And Marik became furious. That bastard was enjoying making him feel uncomfortable! And he's tried to not as hard questions of Bakura!

"Mhmm, too bad I guess. So, since you're Egyptian and certainly colored for long hours in the beating sun, I'm assuming that you had lived in Egypt before coming here. Why'd you leave?" the vampire asked. Marik successfully refrained from shouting, "Whatever gave you _that_ idea?" but couldn't quite reign in the eye roll. He had an idea that the infuriating vampire was acting this way on purpose as some kind of petty revenge for everything that had gone on so far that had evaded his control.

"Leaving Egypt was Isis's idea. Malik and I weren't exactly the best of kids, and we got ourselves into a lot of trouble that Isis didn't appreciate. So when she was offered a job here at the museum she took it and we hopped on a boat to get to Japan," Marik explained shortly. "Are you done asking stupid questions now?"

"Only if you're done asking them of me," Bakura countered.

"Fine. No more stupid questions. Agreed?" Marik asked. When the vampire's smirk didn't fade, instead growing wider, Marik guessed that this preposition was not okay. And that it was probably for a reason he wouldn't like.

"I'm afraid I do have one more request. I need blood," Bakura purred, eyes darkening into a chilling, subtly colored crimson and his fangs extending slowly.

00000

After Bakura had demanded of him his ridiculous request, Marik had left the shack in a disgusted hurry. He'd felt repulsed. It was bad enough that he was sheltering a vampire instead of killing it like he should, but he was not going to stoop so low as to bring him blood. He had to draw the line somewhere.

He had hoped that the other teenager would have gotten it through his skull that there was obviously no way in hell that he would be bringing blood for him to drink, but for all his savvy ways of keeping the hunters off his back, this vampire sure was stupid. The moment Marik entered the shack the next day the very first thing out of the vampire's mouth was another demand for blood, fangs exposed and eyes that creepy dark crimson color again. Marik was almost tempted to just leave the shack again and had started leaving when he heard a strangled cry of "Wait!"

"What?" Marik demanded, lilac eyes flashing angrily as he spun around.

"I _need_ blood!" Bakura said.

"Well maybe you just don't understand. I don't care about what you 'need', I'm not going to _feed_ you like some sort of deranged, evil pet!" Marik yelled, twirling around in anger again.

"If you don't you'll regret it," Bakura said lowly. Marik stopped and slowly turned around again.

"Are you _threatening_ me?" He asked slowly, voice rising at the end of the sentence as a foreboding show of just how angry he was. The vampire was going to dare threaten him? He, the person who had saved Bakura's ass? "Are you forgetting that you can't move?"

"Trust me, that's the one thing I haven't forgotten," Bakura replied dryly. "Look, what was I doing when you caught me?" Marik frowned.

"You said you were hunting," He answered. Bakura smirked.

"Exactly. I never got anything. Your traps caught me before I could feed. So I never got any blood, and I am very hungry," He said, smirking eerily.

"So what? Not like it's going to kill you," Marik scoffed.

"Actually, that's one of the few things that will," Bakura admitted, which surprised Marik. Why tell him one of the few ways that he could be killed? Did Bakura perhaps trust him? "But that doesn't matter. I won't be here ling enough to have to worry about something like that. Actually, I don't need to worry at all. This is a heads up for you and your family." Bakura paused, knowing full well that he had grabbed Marik's attention now. He grinned just slightly when the hunter took a seat across from him.

"As I said, I'm hungry. And a hungry vampire is not something you'd like to have on your ass, little hunter. We vampires have a certain instinct that takes over us when we become hungry, as every living thing does. Nothing ever wants to die," Bakura chuckled. He spoke these words in a strangely bitter, but light-hearted manner. "Unfortunately for you, our instinct is much more vicious than most. When we are in danger of starvation, we become frenzied beats and lose our minds. We'll do whatever it takes to get blood. Right now I'm keeping that instinct at bay, but unless I get food soon I won't be able to. And while your dead man's blood trap may keep me down for a while, the moment it wears off I'll go for the closest meal available."

"My siblings," Marik finished grimly. Bakura nodded. Oh Ra. Well this was certainly troubling, wasn't it?

"You couldn't have told me this earlier?" He asked.

"Tried to. You didn't listen," Bakura said casually. If punching the vampire would solve even one of his problems, Marik wouldn't hesitate to do so.

The Gods, he decided, must hate him. Now he had yet another tough decision to make. If what Bakura had said was true, he needed blood, or the moment the poison in his system ran out he would go after the four Ishtars. Of course, Marik couldn't let that happen, but he couldn't get blood for his captive to drink either. If only he had only been able to kill him.

But then, maybe he could... Hadn't Bakura said that he could die from starvation? If he kept the vampire here by injecting more dead man's blood into his system and just never fed him...

Marik's stomach lurched at the thought. No, he couldn't do that. He'd been unable to behead Bakura, and starving would be by far the worse choice. No, he definitely could not go through with a plan as heartless as this one. But... the only other alternative was to get blood for the vampire to drink. Which really was not something he wanted to do. Protecting him was bad enough, but if his siblings ever found out that on top of that, he'd been feeding the vampire... Not a pleasant thought.

"Isn't there something else I could do?" Marik pleaded desperately.

"I _need_ blood. Unless this concoction of yours wears off soon, then you'll have to get me some. I'd prefer deer. It has a better taste than the blood of livestock. It's... wild. Taste better," Bakura commented nonchalantly. Marik grimaced. How could he just talk about something like that so easily? It was disgusting! And he was expected to just serve him blood like some sort of gruesome waiter? The very idea repulsed him. And he had to actually do this?

"Sorry, but the only thing I hunt is vampires. I'm not exactly qualified to hunt deer. Not am I about to go kill some farmer's livelihood," Marik remarked dryly. He hopped out of his chair and wandered to one of the walls of the shack.

"Then what are you going to do? Or would you prefer that I take a bite out of your psycho brother and your darling sister?" Bakura asked sarcastically. That comment threatened to make Marik explode in a torrent of yelling directed at his unwilling companion for those words against his family, but the thought of what he would have to do steadied him. He closed his eyes for a moment before selecting a shiny blade off the wall. Before he could think about what he was contemplating doing, he had ran the blade across his wrist, wincing from the pain of the fresh cut.

The very moment blood began to well out of the cut Bakura's already dark crimson eyes blackened even more until only the faintest traces of normal red could be seen in his almost completely black, hypnotic glassy orbs. His fangs grew larger than Marik had seen before, to the point where it almost scared him to imagine them piercing his flesh. The vampire's lips quivered, and he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from the freshly spilt blood.

"What are you doing?" Bakura snarled. His voice sounded hoarse and raspy and... pained?

"You need blood right? Well this is the only blood that I've got, so unfortunately we'll both have to deal with this," Marik snapped, "So hurry up!" He neared Bakura, who hissed at him.

"Not human blood! I can't drink human blood!" He yelled.

"Too bad," Marik replied irritably. His blood was steadily flowing from his slashed wrist down to the crook of his elbow and from then on slowly drip-dripping to the floor. He didn't care if the vampire didn't drink human blood or not, he couldn't move and so he had no say in the matter. Marik couldn't allow him to go after his family, so if this was what needed to be done, then this is what he would do. And he needed to do it fast, before the blood loss began to affect his vision.

Marik held his bleeding wrist over Bakura. The vampire struggled to the best of his ability with the dead man's blood still lacing his bloodstream and making him unable to move, but the moment the first drop of blood fell he watched it with intense darkened eyes and opened his mouth to catch the crimson beads. Marik turned away, disgusted. He felt a wave of nausea hit him and wanted to puke.

How could he do something so humiliating? Letting a vampire feed off his own blood, giving it to him like some sort of pet! The very thought was sickening, and the activity itself was repulsive. He wished to all the gods he knew that he didn't have to do this. Damn vampire. It only he'd been able to kill him!

Marik felt a sharp pain pierce his wrist and a strangled cry escaped his lips. He turned back to look at Bakura and gasped. Bakura was sitting up! He was sitting up! Fear seized him. It was impossible! No! The dead man's blood should have kept him motionless! It wasn't possible! Bakura couldn't move! He couldn't! He-!

"S-Stop it!" Marik cried out, voice panicky. Bakura could move again. Somehow, something had gone wrong. The dead man's blood wasn't working, something was wrong. And now, now he was helpless, trapped in a shack with a vampire who was definitely mobile, and whose fangs were deeply imbedded in his skin. Was his vision already becoming fuzzy now that his blood was leaving his body so much faster? He had to do something.

"Bakura stop it! Get off!" He yelled again. He tried to pull his wrist away from the vampire's grasp, but two pale hands shot out to grab his arm and hold it in place. Marik gasped as those fangs were pulled out of his skin. Bakura raised his dark, dark eyes to glare at him intently, then hissed, fangs fully exposed and still dripping with his own blood before he quickly plunged those deadly ivory weapons back into the wrist of his meal.

All at once Marik felt a fiery pain, but that agony was immediately dulled the moment he felt Bakura's fangs enter his flesh as he sucked greedily. The pain ebbed until it was gone and instead he only felt a strange, almost giddy feeling. He wanted to laugh, but he felt too lightheaded to do so. Marik wobbled unsteadily, and the tightening grasp on his arm stilled him.

For a moment he stood there, feeling a strange pressure at his wrist but not remembering why. He felt woozy and tired, like he wanted to sleep. Something at the back of his mind told him this would not be a good idea. Why? Something to do with... Bakura? Because now he could move...

"Bah... Bakura..." Marik struggled to say. It came out muffled, like his mouth was stuffed with cotton. The world spun and Marik imagined that he had fallen. Somehow the thought made him want to laugh. He wearily looked up, and was barely able to make out the figure of the crouching vampire, still holding his wrist and gazing evenly at him with those near black eyes. White hair... black eyes... A moment ago there was much more white, but now the black seemed to be taking over, until everything was black. Marik passed out.

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Okay, end of chapter six. And surprisingly, I really have nothing to say here, other than that I've been getting some really cool ideas recently, so updates might be slower if I decide to write some other stuff. And for anyone who reviews, really harsh constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. It might just be because I'm still sick, but I seem to be thinking that my writing isn't very... realistic? Good? Dramatic? Suspenseful? I'm not quite sure, but I do know that I don't do it as well as I would like for it to be. So yup, tell me how I can improve. Byez, and remember to review!


	7. Trying

Yo peoples! Hiya! Heheh, I am very sorry for the long wait for this chapter to come out. You see, I lost my internet, and it's been gone for about two months now. Yeah... Kinda really sucks. Anyways, it's still not back, but I'm using my dad's computer. Heehee, he let me because I said I _needed_ to update. Anyways, sorry for the wait. As an apology I have a twice-as-long chapter for you! Yay!

Okay, before I let you get to it though, I'd like to thank MokoBunChan for wanting me to update so badly. For a while (before internet went bye bye), I'd been a little bummed since I hadn't gotten as many reviews as I'd expected, but she sent me some pms asking for an update and so I decided to hurry up and write it, since there was at least one person who really wanted the next chapter to come out. (Not to mean anything against the rest of you, even the ones who don't review. I heart you all too XD) So yay, thanks MokoBunChan, for motivation! If I hadn't lost teh internet this would have come out a long time ago!

One more thing! (Geez, I know, will the talking never cease?) There quite a few mistakes in this chapter. Not spelling mistakes hopefully, but just some words I had wanted to change around to make things flow better. I had them all highlighted, but for some reason all my highlighting has disappeared on me, and I really don't feel up to going through the whole chapter again. I'd much rather just get it up, and I'll fix everything at a later date. So there won't be any changes in the chapter or anything, just a few different words to make everything run smoother. Okay! Thanks for your patience, and here is the chapter!

**Disclaimer!:** I make no money from the writing of this, and nor do I own Yu-Gi-Oh! Frankly, I just do it 'cuz I love it.

* * *

Delicious. There was a reason why out of all the living creatures on this world, vampires chose to drink human blood. Their blood was an exquisite palate of flavors -and it had been so long since he'd last had anything that could compare.

Bakura was barely conscious of Marik calling his name, and then crumpling to the floor a moment after. He was concentrated solely on the wonderful taste of the hunter's blood. Had other blood ever tasted so exotic and spicy and filled him with such warmth? His constant thirst was for once quenched and he felt like he was alive again. He longed to drink more of this cognac and glutton himself on it.

His gaze shifted to the hunter lying on the floor. The human was unconscious. Bakura wanted to smirk, but it wasn't worth taking his fangs out to gloat. Not like the other could see anyway.

_I said that I would kill you, didn't I? Bad choice on your part Marik._

He paused his drinking for a moment, just to inhale the scent of the warm, freshly spilt blood. It had the power to drive him crazy and ravenous with hunger. How had he ever given this up? This crimson elixir of life, one of the few things that made his accursed existence enjoyable? It had all been Ryou's doing of course, Ryou who had wanted him to stop and who had said it was disgusting behavior. Maybe when he went back he could convince Ryou that they were made to drink human blood. Yes, when he went back...

With a hiss Bakura forcibly yanked himself away from Marik's limp wrist. He'd forgotten all about Ryou! His brother was probably freaking out by this point! He may have even started looking for him, and if those traps had caught him then Ryou surely would be!

He made to get up but the smell of blood stopped him. Painstakingly, Bakura turned to look at Marik. The boy was lying on the floor, blood everywhere. Such a waste... Surely, Ryou could be put off a bit longer, couldn't he...? Just long enough to finish his meal...

_No!_ Bakura turned away from the teen and marched to the door of the shack. He had to get to Ryou! Ryou hadn't wanted him to drink blood, had said that even if they were monsters they could at least act human. And human meant not drinking another's blood. He hadn't done it since he'd turned Ryou. Not once had he faltered until now. And it hadn't been his fault. But if he turned now and continued in his feat, it would be. How could he turn and look Ryou in the eye after having willingly draining a human? He couldn't! Even if it was such a tempting idea, and if leaving him here was such a waste...!

With a growl he tore himself away from the shack and began running. He ran away from the shack and from any traps just waiting for him, and away from the delicious scent of blood. Tasting it again after his long abstinence had ignited all his instincts. He could feel the furious winds against his back as he ran, could feel their cold tendril-like fingers touch his bare arms but did not shiver, felt branches from the trees he ran among slap and scratch him, leaving welts and streaks of blood, could smell the earthy scents of the forest around him and hear the terrified heartbeats of the small animals he passed, could even see with a clarity sharper than he had ever before. He almost felt alive again, and it was addicting.

He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he drank more. He wanted more. He longed to go back and kill the hunter, but even doing that would be hard. Bakura had killed humans before and smelt their blood, but having refrained from tasting it for so long it didn't tempt him as much as Marik's did. If he went back now to finish the boy off he would lose control and drink more. Even now he could still taste him, could still smell the faintest traces of his scent. It was maddening, and for that reason he kept running further and further away. He couldn't afford to lose control.

So he ran away from the infuriating scent of blood and from the instinct that pounded in his skull and screamed at him to go back and finish the job. He had to get to Ryou. Ryou would tell him what he'd done was wrong and he would be disappointed, but he would bring Bakura back to his correct frame of mind. Once he reached Ryou it would all be fine again.

He had to be particularly careful on his way back to the apartment he and Ryou shared. It was a nice afternoon and there were many people out. It wasn't a problem when he was in the woods and his appearance safely guarded by thick, leafy trees and shadows, but as the woods began to recede Bakura was confronted with the problem of the many potential persons out who could witness his appearance.

His eyes were still the almost black color he knew they became when he drank, but he couldn't get them to return to their brown color. His hair and clothes were in wild disarray from running at such high speeds, and if that wasn't bad enough, the front of his shirt was stained a brown crimson from the cut on his neck. The moment someone caught sight of him there would be trouble. And he really did not need any more trouble.

He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to rid his white locks of their tangles and make it look at least semi-decent. Next he held his shirt out in front of him. It was white, so of course the bloodstain stood out like a sore thumb. There would be no way to hide it, so Bakura stripped the shirt off over his head and tossed it on the ground. On a second thought he also made sure to cover it with dirt and fallen leaves until it was no longer visible. Walking around shirtless would undoubtedly still attract a lot of attention, just hopefully not as much as a bloodied shirt. Now, his eyes... Try as he might, Bakura couldn't change their color. He could still taste the exquisite flavor of Marik on his lips, just as he could still smell the blood, and while these barest of hints still tormented him he couldn't control his bloodlust. Well then, he would have to hide his eye color as well as he could. He would keep his head bent and his hair covering his eyes. It wasn't foolproof... but it should work well enough until he reached Ryou.

As Bakura stepped out from the woods and onto the sidewalk he could already feel the eyes of the others outside on him. It wasn't everyday that a half-naked man emerged from the woods of course. He walked as briskly as he could, keeping his dark eyes on the ground. Even from his hair-obscured sight he could still see the gaze of females lingering on his exposed chest, and for a moment he wanted to throw back his head and show them all his fangs, growl at them to get out of his sight before he tore into their necks. A low growl emanated from deep in his throat, and an elderly woman shot him a dirty look before scurrying away with her walker.

It was faster walking on the streets than it had been running through the woods, but several times he almost found himself going after a random passerby on the street. He had to stop and nearly force himself to keep going toward Ryou. It was so hard... feeling their eyes on him, finding himself looking at their slender, frail, necks longingly... He'd had just a taste of what he'd been missing all these many years, and now he couldn't stand to stay away. His throat felt parched, like he _needed_ to drink. He'd never felt so thirsty in his life! He almost couldn't stand it.

By the time Bakura reached the house he and Ryou rented he felt like he was going mad. His head throbbed and screamed for him to just grab someone off the street to relieve himself of his insatiable quench for release, if only for a moment. His eyes were wide and he snarled at nothing, panting heavily. He wore no shirt but sweat coated his body, and his fingers bent sharply in claw-like vices. He almost couldn't take it anymore. The desire was so strong and surely it wouldn't hurt, would it...?

With a pained growl he made himself knock on the door. He could hear Ryou practically running to the door, thank god he was here, if he hadn't been who knows what he would have done, what trouble he would have gotten into, who he would have bitten...!

He heard Ryou's gasp and looked up to see repulsion on his baby brother's face, repulsed at how he looked and at what state he was in, repulsed because he hadn't been able to control himself, repulsed because he'd drank blood, repulsed because he was a monster, a dirty monster, the very thing Ryou hadn't wanted him to turn into wouldn't you know it-

Ryou grabbed him around the middle and pulled him into the apartment, away from prying eyes, and then they both slid to the ground. Ryou wrapped his arms around him and buried his head into his hair as he pulled Bakura into a tight embrace. Bakura allowed it because he needed to feel Ryou in this moment and he needed to feel comforted and safe. Ryou held him tightly, and whispered words into his ear that made no sense. He felt Ryou's body shudder and knew the other was crying. Of course. He'd left Ryou alone all this time, with no idea of where he'd been. He wasn't the only one who'd suffered. Ryou had too, and now he was being selfish. Ryou needed to be comforted, but he was the one who was in Ryou's arms.

"...thought you were gone, didn't... I didn't know where you were... thought you were..." Ryou sobbed, clinging onto him tightly, and Bakura raised a hand and placed it on Ryou's arm.

"I'm here Ryou. I'm not going," Bakura said quietly, hoping to soothe the other, Ryou held onto him tightly and cried, and Bakura moved his hand along his brother's arm as they both sat quietly in each other's arms. The screaming urge to feed in Bakura's mind slowly began to fade away until he could hear it no longer and Ryou's sobs eventually quieted into sniffling. Still he held onto Bakura, and he allowed it, though he no longer needed the comfort. He stayed still for Ryou.

"What happened Bakura? Where were you? I was worried..." Ryou said quietly, nuzzling into the back of his neck. He sighed then, and the hot breath tickled. Bakura almost smiled.

"You want to know now? It's complicated, and you'll want to be somewhere more comfortable than on the floor," He said. He had calmed and he realized that it was important for Ryou to know that their well-kept secret had gotten out, but it was best if his brother calmed down too before he explained anything.

"That's okay. I want to know," Ryou mumbled, barely audible since it was his neck he was talking into.

"Okay. Come on then." Bakura gently stood and pulled Ryou up. His look-alike clung onto his arms as if he believed he would leave yet again.

"I'm not going anywhere Ryou," Bakura chuckled softly.

"So," Ryou stated stubbornly, clinging tighter to prove that even if Bakura wasn't going anywhere, neither was he. The childish display of disobedience reminded Bakura of a time that had long ago passed, back before they'd become immortal, but forever cursed to survive like parasites off the life-force of the living. Back when he had just understood Ryou's worth, and how in those days the two of them had acted like immature children, having finally connected and understood the bond they shared. Back then, even though they were twins, he'd acted like the big brother and Ryou like the young brother who worshiped him, and now his brother acted in the same childish way as he had back then. It made Bakura want to laugh and become carefree like he had been then too, but there were more important matters to attend to now. Like the hunters who knew they were here.

With Ryou still holding on tightly, Bakura moved to the couch and they both sat. Ryou moved so the two of them weren't huddled so closely together, but still kept their arms linked.

"Do you want a shirt first?" He asked politely, all traces of stubbornness removed from his voice, but Bakura knew that if he suggested Ryou move his arm all of that stubbornness would come back in a flash.

"I'll get one later," Bakura said, waving off the suggestion. "This is more important." He felt Ryou's curious chocolate brown eyes on him and for a split second he thought about lying. Ryou didn't like moving around a lot. He wanted to stay in one place with his brother and his friends and leave a normal life. And now it was his fault that he couldn't. Ryou liked this place and was happy, but now he was going to have to take that all away. They would move, and Ryou would pretend like he didn't care... ...But lying would put them both in danger, and he couldn't do that either.

"We've been caught." Ryou gasped, and a thousand questions all begged to be answered, but Bakura cut him off.

"Marik and his family are the hunters. When I left to feed I had to pass through their property and one of the traps they've got surrounding their house went off and hit me. It was a dagger covered in something called dead man's blood. It paralyzed me and I couldn't move. Marik found me but instead of killing me he brought me to this old shack they've got out there in the woods, and for the past few days I've been staying there. When I could move again I left and came here," Bakura explained quickly.

"M-Marik? He's a hunter?" Ryou exclaimed, incredulous.

"Him and his entire family. That's why we'll have to leave. They know there's at least one vampire here, and Marik knows about both of us. We need to grab all of our things and leave as soon possible. It's not safe in Domino anymore," Bakura said. He moved to get up, but Ryou yanked him back down to the couch.

"Wait! What if we don't have to leave Bakura? Marik helped you right? And he never told his family! Maybe if we talk to him he won't tell his siblings, and if we lay low for a little bit everything might work out in our favor!" Ryou pleaded. His eyes were large and desperate, and Bakura hated to do this to him, but the hopes Ryou had now that everything would work out well were dangerous and needed to be crushed.

"We can't Ryou. I don't know why Marik didn't kill me when he had the chance, but I'm not staying here and hoping we get lucky again. We have to leave," Bakura said sternly.

"No! If we just talk to him, maybe, maybe-!"

"Maybe what Ryou? Maybe this time he'll kill us? And to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure he's able to listen!" Bakura growled, losing his patience now. Ryou's eyes grew wide, not as a result of his anger but from what he'd accidentally let slip.

He had smelled the blood. Bakura knew he had. Knew that he had smelled it was human blood but hadn't commented on it. Yet. Maybe never would have if Bakura had just kept his mouth shut about Marik. He hadn't given much away, but it was enough and Ryou wasn't stupid. He caught onto the meaning all right. And now, since even before he'd been caught by the hunter and threatened with the idea of death, Bakura began to feel afraid.

"What did you do? What did you do to Marik, Bakura?" Ryou yelled, voice rising in a panic. He finally released Bakura's arm and stared at him disbelievingly from across the couch. Bakura felt panic of his own rise up in him. Ryou knew, oh god he knew, and he couldn't deny it. He'd drunk from a human and might have even killed him, he hadn't checked. Ryou had begged him long ago not to do this and he'd said that he wouldn't, had promised that he wouldn't, but he'd broken that promise and now Ryou knew and was disgusted-

(_Repulsed_)

–at him.

"I didn't mean to! I told Marik that I needed blood or I would lose control, and he, he just sliced open his own wrist! I told him not to! I told him I couldn't! But I couldn't move and he wouldn't listen and I... when I tasted his blood I felt free. I could move again, and it was just so delicious and I couldn't control myself. You have to understand Ryou! I didn't want to! But the taste... For the first moment I liked what I was. I actually enjoyed being the leech that I am, because it was so good...! It was..."

He rambled on about the taste of the blood and the sensation of it and could not stop. He knew that it was not helping to convince Ryou that he hadn't meant to drink it, but the remembrance of the substance that had passed his lips called up an illusion of the taste that was just as good as the actual thing, and the words kept coming. It was like he had to talk about it, had to try and make Ryou understand, even if he was doing the complete opposite. Ryou tried to hide his disgust and repulsion but it shone clear as a light on a dark night. And even as he talked, the look on Ryou's face worsened and he felt disgusted at himself for not being able to stop and for having enjoyed the taste so thoroughly.

"Bakura!" Ryou's yell brought his rant to an end. His brother looked pale, paler than usual and sick, but his voice held determination.

"I understand that you did not mean to bite Marik. But what did you do afterwards? Did you turn him? Is he dead?" Ryou questioned, voice weakening at the end.

"I didn't turn him. I... just left him there. I don't know what condition he's in," Bakura said quietly, weakly.

"Well then we have to go check! He could be dead!" Ryou cried out.

"No!" Bakura grabbed his arm before he could go anywhere. He made Ryou look at him, and saw that his twin looked scared. Bakura actually flinched. It had been years since Ryou had actually been scared of him, many, many years. Maybe he really was a monster now...

It didn't matter. Whatever Ryou thought of him now wasn't important. Monster or not, he wasn't going to allow his brother to get himself killed. They didn't know if Marik was alive or not, but even if he was, chances were he wouldn't be as keen on protecting Ryou ad he had Bakura, especially not with a huge bite in his wrist.

"If you go they will kill you Ryou. If Marik is dead, saying his family will be pissed is an understatement. I guess vampires killed their grandfather's family and did something else to them as well. They're a third generation of hunters, and they are knowledgeable. You go there and they'll know what you are and they will kill you because of it. And even if Marik is fine, I don't think he'll be greeting you with open arms. You'll stay here," Bakura commanded sternly.

"But what if he needs help? If we help him, won't he be grateful? If we just try to talk to him we might not have to leave!" Ryou pleaded.

"No Ryou! Do you want to be killed?" Bakura yelled. Now Ryou was the one to flinch, but he didn't back down. For a moment he glared defiantly, then tore his arm away and sprung from the couch. Bakura bolted up after him in case he headed for the door, but Ryou ran up the stairs and slammed the door to his room shut instead. Bakura growled. He didn't enjoy upsetting his brother, but they had to leave. There was no way they could stay here, no matter how much Ryou wished a way out would appear. After he'd sulked long enough in his room he would come to his senses. And until then, Bakura would be packing.

00000

The world was a blurry mess. Shapes looked disfigured and outstretched into frightful blobs of darkened color. They stretched and condensed into solid shapes, which spun in random loops and whorls. Color became disconcerting, at first too dark and then too bright as the world slowly came into view. When everything had settled, then came the pain, dull and throbbing, emanating from his arm. Which was sticky too, and damp.

Marik moved his hand to his arm and missed it completely. He tried again, but his body felt heavy and sluggish and again he missed. On the third try he made it (third time's the charm, he thought and giggled derisively) and encircled his arm with his hand, then brought the hand to his face. It was dyed a dark crimson and sticky. He was bleeding. Bakura... Bakura had made him bleed, hadn't he? Because Bakura was a vampire.

He shifted his body, all of which felt sluggish and heavy, like he was trying to wade through water. He got to his hands and knees and his injured arm gave out under his weight. He slammed down to the floor and his teeth clenched together in a jarring impact. The fresh bout of pain cleared his mind from its veiled and detached state and the world and his situation came slightly more into focus. Marik struggled to his hands and knees again, making sure this time to keep the majority of his weight on his good arm, and made it to his feet. He grasped the table Bakura had lied on previously while his vision spun faster, then cleared and once again everything was normal.

The sky was darkening. That was Marik's first indication of how long he'd been out. He had gone out to the shack the moment he'd returned from school to see the vampire, and now the sun was going down. He'd been unconscious then for three, maybe four hours. By now Isis would be worried and would want to know where he'd gone, and when she caught sight of the injury on his arm she would freak. Speaking of his injury...

The wound was no longer bleeding, but it was still coated in the warm sticky liquid. It looked like a dog had mangled his arm with all the blood, but he knew that once he had cleaned it he would see the slash wound on his wrist and the vampiric bite from Bakura. Of course, he could definitely not show that to anyone. He would have to bandage it and say he'd gotten into a fight. Hopefully his siblings wouldn't make too much of a deal over it.

He took a step forward, and although the world had been steady before, now it lurched when he moved. Marik grabbed the table and it slowly steadied again. Something... Bakura had done something to him. Put something in his bloodstream when he'd bitten. Something to make his vision mess up and cause him to become giddy. He didn't have a clue as to what it could be. As a hunter, he knew many things about how to fight and defeat vampires but knew nothing about their bites and what they did, other than kill and turn others into vampires.

At that thought Marik's blood ran cold. He checked his pulse and found that it was still beating, but that discovery did nothing to alleviate his fears. He knew that vampires did not have a pulse, but he knew nothing about how a human turned into one. Did their pulse stop right away or did it take time? Was he a vampire right now? What would he do if he were? What would his family say? What would they do?

He had to find Bakura. First he would have to return home and show his siblings that he was okay, except for his arm, and then the first chance he got he would have to find Bakura. Find out what had happened, how Bakura had escaped, whether he was a member of the fiendish bloodsuckers or not, and what would happen next. He would take weapons with him, and if he needed to defend himself he would. Maybe now that the vampire could move and was no longer defenseless he could kill him if the need arose. But he was going to get answers, one way or another.

This time when Marik walked he didn't allow his unsteady vision to keep him from continuing. He'd wasted enough time already in the shack. If he was going to make the best of this situation then he needed to get a move on and return to his house before Isis really freaked and called the police, if she hadn't already.

He walked slowly because of his sight and to keep from stepping on traps. He wanted to hurry and the ever-darkening sky seemed to edge him on, but the one time he tried he fell and nearly set off a trap. So Marik walked slowly, and as he walked whatever had been in his system wore off and his sight finally returned to normal. This enabled him to walk faster, and now when he did reach his house he wouldn't be wobbling like a lousy drunkard.

Instead of going directly up to the house he snuck around back, round to the side of the house the bathroom window was located on. Luckily the window was opened. That would make things much easier. Normally Marik liked a challenge, but in this situation the easier the better. The last thing he needed was for his siblings to catch him breaking into his own bathroom with a bloodied arm that look suspiciously like it's been bitten by a vampire. Oh, how fun _that_ would be.

There was a big tree next to the window, but none of the thick branches stretched close enough for him to just drop in. The nearest one was still two and a half feet away. One way or another he had to get in, and if that were the only way to do so then it would have to work.

With a determined glare Marik grabbed onto the tree trunk and began to scale up it. It was harder to do with his injured arm, but the task was still moderately easy to accomplish. He shimmied onto the branch and moved up it as silently as possible until it became too skinny to hold his weight. He shifted carefully in the tree, making sure to grip tightly onto the branch in case he fell, and settled onto his haunches. He first tried to stretch and reach the window, but the moment he outstretched his arms his center of balance shifted and the tree branch wobbled dangerously. Marik scrambled back to the trunk and waited for the branch to still after trying his luck again.

After several failed attempts and once nearly falling out of the tree, Marik came to the conclusion that perhaps he needed to try a different approach. He sat motionless in the tree for a minute or two, contemplating different ideas on how to get into the open window. He and Malik snuck out of their rooms at night often by climbing onto the branches of the trees by their windows. That was the easy part. Getting back in was a little more difficult. Usually they got back the same way, but once he remembered Malik doing something different. He'd dared his brother to swing into the room, like something out of a big action movie, thinking that even Malik wouldn't be so stupid because it would undoubtedly wake Isis. Malik had just smirked his trademark evil smirk, grabbed onto one of the branches and dropped out of the tree, then swung into his room. He hadn't made a sound. Maybe Marik could do the same trick.

He grabbed onto the branch and dropped out of the tree. He winced as his injured arm burned with pain, but he had more important matters to deal with. Like what he would do if one of his siblings decided to look outside and see him hanging from a tree. He tightened his grip and began to swing back and forth on the branch, slowly at first until he started to gain momentum. The branch groaned and creaked in protest, but it stayed firm and soon Marik had catapulted himself into the bathroom. His landing wasn't as smooth as Malik's had been, but no one came rushing up the stairs to investigate the noise, so he assumed he was safe.

Marik tiptoed across the bathroom floor to the cabinet where the first aid kit was located, grabbed it, then tiptoed to the bathroom sink. Very slowly he turned the faucet so water streamed out in a slow trickle, and used it to wash the blood off his arm. The bathroom was too dark for him to make out the two wounds he suffered from, so without inspecting his arm he turned off the faucet again and snuck back to the window. He stealthily slid onto the windowsill, then on the count of three dropped out of the window. He landed with his knees bent to prevent any more injuries, but the drop still sent a jolt through his body and made his teeth clash. Before he could get caught Marik darted across his lawn until he was sure he was far enough not to be seen.

The darkened sky didn't make it much easier to see his wounded arm, but it was at least better that the bathroom had been. The wound on his wrist that he had made initially hadn't been very deep, but now because of Bakura's bite it was much worse. With his luck it would leave a scar. The other bite wound he'd accumulated was also deep and shared in the ability to become scar material as well. Marik felt anger well up inside of him and he resolved to punch the vampire the next chance he got. Stupid bastard had not only bitten him and perhaps turned him into a monster, but had also scarred him. How the hell was he supposed to some up with an explanation as to how he'd gotten these?

"I'll kill him. Stupid fucker. I swear, if I become a fucking bloodsucker I will kill him. I should have when I had the chance," Marik muttered darkly to himself as he started to wrap gauze tape around the arm. If he'd been back in Egypt as the head of the Ghouls, no one would have ever dared touch him or Malik. If they had they would have paid dearly. Damn vampire! What the hell would he do if he became one too? How could he tell that to his family?

"Stop it Marik. Don't get ahead of yourself. Nothing's set in stone, so let's take things one step at a time. First you've got to show the family you're okay, then you can go after the vampire. And if you need to you can hopefully kill him this time," Marik said to himself. He finished wrapping his arm and bit the excess gauze off, then set it back in the kit. The kit itself he left behind. He would go back to get it later, when he wouldn't have to swing into the bathroom again to return it.

The moment he approached the patio and the light above it turned on Isis had burst through the door and scooped Marik up in her arms. He was crushed into her chest by her strong embrace and her cotton clothes made breathing hard, but the embrace was comforting and for a moment alleviated his fears that he would become a monster. He had almost closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax completely when he felt a stinging pain at the side of his head.

"Ow!" Marik cried out. He jerked away from the embrace and sent a fiery glare up at his sister, whose hand was suspended in the air. "Why did you hit me?"

"You've been gone for hours Marik! You left immediately after school without telling anyone where you were going! And don't you dare glare at me! I have every right to be angry with you! I have half a mind to ground you even longer!" Isis yelled. Marik resisted the urge to make a snide remark. Instead he lowered his eyes to the ground, the perfect picture of a guilty and sorry teenager who knew he's been caught.

"Rishid! Malik! He's back!" Isis called into the house. Then she swiveled her smoldering stare back on Marik. "Everyone's been worried sick about you. Rishid and Malik were ready to go out and search for you! Who knows what kind of trouble you could have gotten into?"

"Trouble like back in Egypt?" Marik questioned before he could stop himself. The effect was immediate. His sister's beautifully tanned face fell and her expressive blue eyes filled with regret and worry. Malik and Rishid came into the doorway at that moment and Isis's face reverted back to its previous state in less than a second. The instantaneous change was not however, quick enough to prevent a spark of real guilt from settling in Marik's stomach.

"Marik! You're back," Rishid said, smiling lightly. He sounded relieved.

"How did you get that?" Malik questioned suddenly. Everyone turned and looked at Malik, then to where he was pointing, which was at Marik's bandaged arm. Isis gasped and Marik began to feel nervous. At last the attention had been called to his arm. This was it. The following moments would decide whether or not he'd be found out.

"When I was on my way back home some guys tried to mug me. One of them pulled a switchblade and got me. It's not a big deal. Just a scratch," Marik answered nonchalantly, shrugging minutely. Isis gasped and grabbed at his arm, turned it over carefully and looked at the bandages so intently he fear she could see through them.

"Someone threatened you with a knife? Where were you Marik?" She demanded.

"Yes, please fill us in," Malik insisted. Marik looked sharply up at his brother as he spoke. His face didn't sport its usual eerie grin, but the way he'd spoken sounded as if it should. He sounded excited and maniacal, which was a bad combo in Malik. Things usually turned out bad when Malik talked like that.

"I just went for a walk and ran into some people from school and lost track of time. Then when it started getting dark I left and ran into those guys. I wasn't getting into any trouble Isis," Marik explained.

"Was it Bakura and his brother you 'ran into?'" Malik questioned, almost sneering.

"Whoever it was doesn't matter," Isis interrupted, "We need to get you into the house and take a look at your arm." For a moment Marik's blood froze. If Isis looked at his arm... The moment passed and Marik smirked just a little, and allowed some playfulness to enter his voice.

"It's fine Isis! I know how to treat wounds too you know, so why don't we all go into the house and relax now that I'm home?" He suggested. Isis was going to protest this notion but Rishid finally spoke up after being silent.

"Marik is right Isis. Let's just all go in and relax," He said. Isis sighed and relented, though from the look on her face she was definitely not satisfied with not getting her way. The four Ishtar siblings retired into their house, where Isis and Rishid both said they were going to sleep now that Marik was home, since both had to work in the morning. Marik and Malik went upstairs, saying they would be quiet.

Before Marik would breath a sigh of relief at having evaded his family's suspicions, Malik pushed his way into Marik's room with him. And his slightly crazy younger brother was not smirking, but angry. Involuntarily Marik's mind flashed back to the last time Malik had been in his room and angry like this.

"_You don't need to be frightened Marik. I would never hurt you."_

Yeah well, if that experience had taught him anything it was that he did need to be frightened. Malik had always been a little unstable, and they had all learned to deal with that, but that day in his room Malik had revealed a side of him that was more than just a little unstable. He's been downright deranged, and frightening too.

"Was there something you wanted Malik?" Marik asked carefully. He definitely did not want to experience a recurrence of the situation there had been not too long ago.

"Who was it that you ran into? Was it those two albinos?" Malik questioned forcefully. Marik was a little taken aback by his attitude, but he quickly shook his head.

"No, no. It was just some guys from my Chemistry class. There were talking to me about a lab we did the other day and the conversation moved on to other topics. I haven't seen Bakura all day and only saw Ryou at school," Marik lied. He didn't want to lie to his brother but the idea sounded much better than telling the truth. Especially if the truth would cause him to act like a lunatic.

"Marik seemed to accept the answer, and his furious expression calmed, if only slightly. "What about the people who tried to mug you?" He asked.

"I took care of them," Marik replied simply, with a little smirk. Of course he had done no such thing, seeing as how there had been no muggers, but Malik did not need to know that. His expression had now morphed into a cruel smirk as he no doubt entertained thoughts of how the muggers had been "taken care of." Knowing his brother, he probably wished he could have had a part in their disposal.

"Alright then. But next time, dear brother, why don't you include me too? I'm sure it was fun," Malik grinned.

"Yeah, getting the crap sliced out of my arm was definitely fun," Marik commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "But sure, I'll take you along next time, although I'm sure you'll scare away any potential thugs."

"Well in that case I'll be sure to hide behind you, so all the bad men only see the beautiful damsel in distress," Malik laughed, leaning in close to Marik so that he could whisper the words in his ear. Marik shivered, and took a step back. Malik only laughed again, and then without any insight to his rather strange actions he left the room and finally allowed Marik to rest.

Marik turned off his lights and slid bonelessly into his bed without changing out of his clothes into pajamas. He was tired and worn out and didn't care. Even though he had just woken up in the shack not too long ago he felt like he'd been awake for a twenty-four hour stretch. And to make matters worse, he had school tomorrow. If that didn't just top the day off he didn't know what did. Perhaps he could persuade Isis to let him stay home from school the next day. With everything that had happened, he needed some time to get a grip on things, and what a better way than to spend the day at home? Although he seriously doubted the idea that his sister would allow him.

When he dreamt, it was of his brother, standing close to him and whispering something he couldn't quite grasp in his ear, then moving away and smirking, smirk growing wider and wider until it was no longer his brother but instead a great, gaping black hole. And then Marik's dreams were filled with pale vampires; skin the color of marble and with ivory hair and long fangs covered in spilt crimson blood.

00000

In the morning Marik had to go to school. He'd known that he would, but now he realized one thing he hadn't last night; that Bakura and Ryou would be at school.

It was an absurd thought (would they really still be at school even though he now knew that they were vampires?), but Marik wouldn't write it off as being entirely silly. After all, if the situation were to be reversed, both twins now knew what he and his siblings were, but yet they were still going to class. So why wouldn't Bakura and Ryou? It was plausible to conceive that they too would be in the classroom, acting as usual. Doubtful, but still, it couldn't happen, couldn't it?

Malik left on the bus and Marik climbed onto his motorcycle. Usually riding his baby would free him of any stress he felt, but today this wasn't so. Today the feel of the harsh wind against his cheeks and flowing through his hair did nothing other than to provide him a meager amount of comfort. Riding still gave him the same amount of freedom and pleasure, but how could something such as that help if he did have to confront the two vampires? He knew exactly what to do it he confronted them outside of school, but this was a different situation. In school he was defenseless and helpless and could do next to nothing if he were to be approached by one of them. He couldn't bring a weapon to school and if the two of them cornered him somewhere without teachers or students, then...

Marik slammed his foot down on the break. His tires squealed and the smell of burning rubber filled the air. The back of the motorcycle almost lifted off the ground before settling again as the bike came to a screeching halt in front of a pale, white-haired teenager. Marik was startled at first, then his expression became one of grim determination. He parked the bike and jumped off it. He didn't have any weapons with him but he did have the bike. He would see what the bloodsucker wanted, then leave if things started to look bad for him. He stood a safe distance away and faced the frowning teen.

"What do you want Bakura?" He demanded. Bakura shook his head, still frowning.

"It's not Bakura. I'm Ryou," He said. He took a step forward and as Marik took one back his frown deepened. The hunter was surprised to see Ryou instead of Bakura but that didn't mean he was any less apprehensive. True, Bakura had flat out said that Ryou wouldn't harm a fly and Marik himself seriously doubted that the younger vampiric twin would harm him under normal circumstances, but these weren't normal circumstances anymore. And most sane people wouldn't dart into the path of a moving motorcycle for a friendly chat.

"Was there something you wanted?" Marik questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

"I'm very happy to see that you're okay Marik, and I'm sorry for everything Bakura did to you. I'm sure you want all this to just end, but unfortunately it won't be that easy. I need you to come with me," Ryou said, taking another step forward.

"I think I'm going to have to decline that offer," Marik aid.

"Please don't make me force you. I can, and I will if I need to," Ryou said sadly.

"Are you threatening me?"

"If I need to."

Marik actually contemplated the offer. He knew it was dangerous and extremely foolhardy, but half of him actually wanted to know what Ryou could want of him. However, without some kind of weapon to take along with him there was no way he would actually do something so asinine. The younger vampire was likely some sort of a lure to lead him into a trap. And then, conceivably, he would die. No thank you. Curious or not, Marik thought he would stick with school rather than go for an adventure with his would-be murderer.

"Sorry, but I really do have other things to do right now," Marik smiled, and then in a split second he had turned and dashed to his motorbike. He swung one leg over its leather seat and hopped on, kicking up the kickstand and turning it on as he moved. Its roar filled the side street Ryou had found him on and out of habit Marik revved it once, ready to go. The thought briefly crossed his mind that Isis would be very angry if she knew he was driving without a helmet, but within moments it was crushed by his urge to get away. He kicked off and dashed away from Ryou, mentally congratulating himself for the speedy getaway.

He'd only gotten a few yards before the slender figure of a white, red-eyed being landed a few feet in front of him, crouched on the ground like a waiting animal.

"_Shit!_" The tires screeched as Marik tried to stop the bike, then was forced to swerve to the left. A building came up fast and he jumped from the bike in a roll. He came to a stop just as he heard the sickening crunch of metal. Marik shot his head up and saw the horrifying sight of his baby lying on its side, back wheel still spinning helplessly, windshield broken into pieces, and the front of the bike no more than smashed and mangled scrap metal.

"No..." He whispered, eyes wide, then darted around when he heard the sound of footsteps, caught sight of the lithe, feminine figure of Ryou, and for the first time felt afraid.

He almost laughed. He'd thought there was no reason to fear Ryou, but if the death of his precious motorcycle had taught him anything, it was to very much be afraid of Ryou. He looked like the same helpless, spineless student he'd once helped from bullies, but even now Marik could see glimpses of his red, red eyes through that arctic hair, and couldn't help but to imagine the sight of his fangs.

_He was just acting back then with those bullies. Merely putting on a show, and you fell completely for it, didn't you?_ Asked a voice in his head. It was cold and harsh and cruel, but the part that really scared him was that it sounded like his brother had that day in his room, deranged and callous.

_No... No! I couldn't have known! There was no way that I could have known!_ Marik protested desperately.

_But you're a hunter!_ The voice cooed. _You're supposed to know how to tell the difference between these types of creatures. But you fell for his act just like that. Didn't even suspect a thing!_

_Shut up! It's not my fault!_

_Sure it is_, the voice insisted airily. _Not only weren't you the least bit suspicious, but then when you knew for sure what they were you acted like you had everything under control and didn't bother to tell anyone, right? Guess you didn't have it all under control after all huh? You were a horrible, cocky, arrogant hunter and now you get to pay for your mistakes with your life._

"NO!" Marik shouted. Ryou had gotten only a few inches away from him without his notice. His shout took the pale boy by surprise, and when Marik saw how close they were he scrambled backwards.

He scraped his hands on the cement and the stinging pain joined in with the pain from similar scraps and bruises resulting from his fall off the motorcycle that had escaped his notice until now. His injured arm also throbbed with pain, as did his left ankle, but the only injury he found himself worried about was his ankle. If he sprained it, he would be unable to run away.

_Not that you would have gotten very far anyways_, the voice brought up, ever helpful. _You tried to get away on your bike and he still caught you. He's fast. Faster then you on your very best day. You're just a walking meal right now Marik, so you best get used to that._

"_Shut up!_" Marik screamed. He clenched his fists and screwed his eyes tightly shut, praying that when he opened them he would just be at home or at school and everything else would have been a horrible, horrible nightmare and that Ra-damned voice would be gone and out of his head.

_Silly boy. Don't even want to watch as he drains you?_

"Marik?" A cold hand touched his shoulder and Marik leaned back on his hands and pushed himself off the ground, aiming a kick straight where he knew the vampire would be. His eyes shot open as a hand tightly grabbed onto his foot and prevented the kick from reaching its target. There stood Ryou, looking worriedly at him with eyes that were no longer red.

"Marik! It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you!" Ryou shouted.

"_Then why won't you leave me alone?_" Marik yelled. He yanked his foot away from Ryou and tried to kick him again but the vampire dodged it.

"Please Marik! I just need to talk to you. And I'm sure you're got questions too, don't you? I promise that I will not harm you in any way," Ryou pleaded.

"Oh you _promise _do you? Why should I trust the word of a vampire? Your brother already tried to kill me! I'm sure you're just here to finish the job!" Marik shouted. He was acting hysterical and he knew it. Whatever Bakura had done to him, most likely it was not try to kill him. He had fainted. If Bakura had wanted to kill him he could have there in the shack, but yet Marik had woken up unharmed except for the injuries that he'd already been aware of. He was still alive, so that would make it unreasonable to think that Ryou would come to kill him now when the job could have already been accomplished. Some part of his mind knew this, but for the moment Marik's thinking was irrational, with the cruel voice in his head doing nothing to help.

"If you don't come willingly with me then I'll have to take you by force. I really don't want to, but something needs to happen. This is your last chance Marik," Ryou said sadly. His eyes flickered red for a moment and Marik scrambled away from him. Ryou took this as a sign that he would not be cooperating and he advanced. Marik backed up as far as he could until his back reached the side of a building, then he tried to kick him but it was to no avail. Ryou either dodged or caught his kicks. When he reached him he grabbed Marik's arm and hauled him to his feet with one hand.

"We're going to be running now so you'll have to keep up," Ryou said shortly, then without a moment's notice took off. Marik half-stumbled, half-ran as he was pulled along by Ryou. He tried to break the grasp Ryou had on his wrist, but the vice-like grip was too strong. When he couldn't escape he was forced to keep up with the speedy vampire as he was led through the city. He felt a sinking feeling that if he tried to stop and fell, Ryou would just keep going, dragging him on until they reached their destination.

They passed buildings and stored and their school. People on the streets got the barest glimpse of them as they flew by. They hadn't been running for long, but Marik began to grow tired from the sheer speed they traveled at. Ryou didn't show the slightest signs of wearing out any time soon, and as the initial panic he had felt at being forced to travel somewhere against his will slightly faded, Marik wondered just how fast his captor could travel and for how long.

When they ceased their running Marik recognized the house they'd stopped in front of as the house Ryou and Bakura shared. He'd been here once before, before he'd known what the two twins were. This time Ryou didn't bother knocking but just opened the door and brought the two of them in.

He hardly recognized the house when he stepped inside it. The living room was bare except for the couch Bakura so disdained, the TV, and any other large pieces of furniture. Along the walls of the now empty room were rows of boxes. It looked like someone was moving out.

"You leaving?" Marik questioned, intrigued now for the moment, despite his caution.

"I don't know," Ryou replied honestly, then turned around and shouted his brother's name. Said brother quickly descended down the stairs, and Marik felt the fear he had experienced earlier return. As if one hadn't been bad enough, now two vampires cornered him. But this time he wouldn't allow himself to lose his control. He would approach this situation with logical calculation, like Rishid. His calculating manner was what enabled him to be the best hunter in their small family.

"Ryou! You shouldn't have gone out! We need to hurry up and finish packing- Why is he here?" Bakura demanded mid-sentence as now his angry red eyes caught sight of Marik for the first time.

"I brought him here," Ryou answered almost defiantly.

"What are you talking about? Get away from him Ryou!" Bakura yelled. Marik was stunned by the level of protectiveness coming from his voice as well as the fierce hate directed at him. It occurred to him suddenly that Bakura was just as frightened as he was, and the realization that he was the cause of another's fear served to calm him. After all, if Bakura was fearful for Ryou's life then that meant he'd had no idea that Marik would be here and wasn't ready to jump on him and end his life any minute now.

"It's okay Bakura! He's not here to harm us, and we aren't going to harm Marik!" Ryou said.

"Then why is here?" Bakura questioned sarcastically.

"I have no clue. Your brother just grabbed me off my motorcycle on my way to school and brought me here," Marik replied shortly and with just as much the sarcasm. Both turned to look at Ryou expectantly, who shrunk back under the intensity of their glares, then straightened and met them with determination.

"Both of you need to talk to each other! Bakura, Marik, both of you have had the chances to hurt each other, but neither of you did! Marik, you took care of Bakura and didn't tell your family about us, and Bakura, you left him alone even when you had the chance to do otherwise! If the two of you can just talk to one another then maybe we can figure something out and none of us will have to leave," Ryou explained, looking both of them in the eye. Marik took a moment to process it all, and the apprehension and tension he felt slowly dissipated.

He was fine. This wasn't some plot to get rid of him but just a plan thought up by Ryou to hopefully get them to exist together peacefully. And now that he was able to think things clearly, it made a lot more sense too. When he glanced at Bakura, he saw the other's eyes had gone back to their brown color and he appeared lost in thought.

"I'll just leave and let you two talk. Bakura, please at least try to make this work," Ryou pleaded. He looked at Bakura one last time and Marik felt something pass between them. He'd heard of the connection twins had with one another, but he'd never experienced something like that with Malik. The two agreed with each other a lot, but for them it was because each wanted what was best for themselves, and usually it happened to be the some thing for the both of them. There wasn't anything that ran deeper between them. They didn't do any cool twins things like finish each other's sentences or act as it they were really one person but in two separate bodies. And until this moment Marik hadn't cared. But when he saw the look Bakura and Ryou gave one another, and the nod Bakura made as Ryou disappeared up the stairs, he felt envious. Envious of their bond and he wished that he and Malik did have a connection like that.

"So what do we do now?"

"What?" Marik asked, brought out of his thoughts by the sudden question. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"I said what do we do now, O might and attentive hunter of vampires?" He questioned sarcastically, his tone condescending.

"For starters, how about you tell me what the hell you did to me when you bit me?" Marik demanded furiously.

"You won't turn into a disgusting vampire, if that's what you're worried about," Bakura spat back, stretching out the word vampire.

"Well what else? When I woke up I couldn't see correctly," Marik asked. Bakura rolled his eyes and laughed. It was a cold, short noise that sounded more like a bark.

"Don't you know anything? Unless a vampire gives a human some of their blood, the human won't turn into a vampire just from their bite. If that were the case, there would be a lot more of us. And our bites carry a toxin in them that disorientates out victim. It blurs their vision and makes them giddy. As soon as the toxin filters out of your bloodstream the victim will be fine again, as I'm sure you found out. Happy now?" Bakura shot at him sarcastically.

"Fine. Now answer me this. Is it possible for my siblings and I to live here without needing to worry about getting bitten on the neck one day?" Marik snapped. Bakura growled lowly and Marik scoffed. Not that he'd found out he didn't need to fear for his life and that he wouldn't be turning into a blood-sucking leech anytime soon he found his patience with this situation was wearing thin. He should be at school right now, and since he wasn't Malik would wonder where he was and the school would call Isis and she would want to know as well. And worst of all, his precious motorcycle had been destroyed! How the hell could he be expected to explain that one?

"I already told you that we don't drink human blood! If you hadn't pulled that stunt back then and made me drink yours then I would never have lost control and bit you again! Could Ryou and I really stay here and now have to worry about you and your family coming to decapitate us?" Bakura retorted with a sneer.

"Are you questioning my word? I said that I wouldn't tell them. I can't now anyways. I can't tell them that I found the vampire and betrayed their trust by hiding it," Marik remarked bitterly. Both teens lapsed into silence as they glared at each other. The silence continued until Bakura broke it.

"So what then? We actually try to get along?" He asked.

"No! I might not tell my family about you but I'm not going to live with vampires! I'm still a hunter, even if I won't kill you!" Marik protested.

"Why?" Bakura spat, sounding disgusted. "Why does it matter so much what we are? We don't like it any more than you do! We've tried to stay inconspicuous and have sunk as low as drinking animal blood because of it! So not only does what we are make us outcasts to the humans, but to the other vampires as well! They taunt us and are as much of a danger as you hunters are! But still we try, and now when we haven't even done anything wrong you want us to leave? If the idea of living with vampires is so repulsive to you, you leave then!"

Marik punched him. His blood was on fire and he felt enraged.

"Shut up! I understand already! Your life isn't easy! Well you aren't the only one that's got problems you bastard! It's not easy for me either! I'm a hunter! My family is hunters and they've been so for quite a while now! I've already turned my back on most everything that I've learned by letting you live as it is! And now you want me to hurt them even more and just allow you to stay here, knowing fully well what you are? How selfish are you?" Marik demanded angrily. Bakura growled and punched him. The hit sent him stumbling backwards.

"I'm selfish? Have you listened at all to what I've been saying? I don't give a damn about your stupid family's values!" Bakura yelled. Marik rubbed his bruising cheek and pushed the fringe of his bangs out of his eyes. He walked up to his white-haired companion and threw another punch at his face. Bakura dodged this one and kneed Marik in his stomach. He bent over instinctively to clutch at his stomach and dull the pain starting there and instead received another punch from Bakura. One of them hit his jaw and he began to bleed.

Marik spat the blood that was gathering in his mouth out, grimacing at the coppery taste of it and the fresh pain he felt. He didn't notice Bakura's red-eyed gaze rest for a second on his now injured lip. He shot his leg out underneath him but the vampire managed to just barely dodge the hit. Next he threw two more punches, one of which landed squarely in the middle of Bakura's chest and the other was caught in midair.

"_Enough!_" Bakura yelled.

"Why? Scared to lose?" Marik taunted. With his free hand he wiped his bloodied lip. Bakura's red eyes followed his hand movement, almost mesmerized by it. He shook himself away from it and growled.

"No. But unless you want me to bite you again I suggest we stop before you begin bleeding any more," Bakura answered, chillingly cold. He released Marik's closed fist and stepped away. The gaze in his eyes as he spoke sent chills down Marik's back. The intensity in his red eyes stole his anger away. His hands dropped to his sides. His body ached from the hits he'd gained and the scrapes from his bike accident. The pain from his ankle, which had either disappeared or he just hadn't noticed before with everything that had been going on, returned with a burning vengeance. Bakura left the room and he sunk into the couch.

The vampire returned shortly and tossed something at him. Marik raised his hands and caught it. A wet towel with ice in it. Marik looked at him questioningly.

"If you don't want to use it then fine. But if something doesn't go on those punches then they'll swell as well as bruise. You already look like shit without your face being the size of a balloon," Bakura explained as he settled against the wall the couch rested near. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. A piece of soft, arctic-white hair fell across his porcelain face and Marik was possessed by the absurd urge to get up and lovingly brush that traitorous piece of hair away and see if Bakura's eyes remained their fiery red color, or if they had reverted back to the dull brown. He quickly shook that thought out of his mind before it could go any further, or worse, he acted on it. To his utter dismay he felt that his cheeks were hot. One too many punches to the face, Marik thought wryly. Now I'm daydreaming about vampires.

"You didn't get one for yourself," He pointed out wearily, saying the very first thing that popped into his mind after that thought.

"I already told you that injuries don't matter for me," Bakura said shortly. He kept his eyes closed. Marik wished he would open them already.

"What should we do?" Marik asked finally after a long silence. Maybe it was just because he was tired and worn out from their brief fight (because a fight with a vampire certainly did not leave a person feeling rejuvenated afterwards, or even semi-okay, for that matter), but Ryou's idea that they try to exist together without fighting didn't seem like such a bad idea at this time. It even seemed like one that could work.

Bakura took a moment to answer, and for a moment Marik feared that he might not and the silence would continue on forever.

"I guess we should try what Ryou suggested. We both keep our secrets and try to live here in peace. And if we can't we'll have to deal with it. It'll be difficult I'm sure, but we could probably pull it off. Question is, are you up for it, O mighty hunter?" Bakura asked the question sarcastically and with the hint of a smirk, but it was still a serious one. Marik thought carefully before a smirk of his own formed on his lips.

"My darling Baku-kun, I love challenges," He answered.

"Your nicknames seem to become more stupid everyday Blondie," Bakura smirked. The silence took over again but only for a moment.

"Ryou will be happy. I bet he's in his room eavesdropping on us this very moment. Actually, I'm surprised he hasn't ran down here yet to give us both hugs or something equally corny," Bakura commented. Marik agreed quietly. They had decided to try and live together. That should have lifted a load off his shoulder, but...

"What are we?" He asked suddenly. "Are we friends, enemies, companions...?" Bakura's smirk faltered as he pondered the question.

"It kills me to say it, but I suppose we're friends. And this is some weird sort of twisted friendship based on a lot of fighting," Bakura replied with a frown.

"Friends..." Marik repeated, slowly, as if testing out the word. He was friends with a vampire. He hadn't been sure of it before. He hadn't really ever had a friend and didn't know how to classify someone as one, but if Bakura said they were then he believed him. After all, he'd been alive for years. He certainly had the advantage of knowledge.

"Heh. You're the first one I've ever made," Marik admitted with a chuckle. Bakura gazed at him with interest and his smirk softened, if only by a little.

"Really? I would have thought someone with your looks would have been extremely popular. I'd wager it's the fault of that twin of yours. The whole psychotic thing really turns people off. If you lost him you'd have people throwing themselves at you to be classified as your friend. Oh well. Guess it's my victory," He drawled languidly.

"Guess so." It was beyond strange, but he felt a sense of elation at now knowing that he was Bakura's friend. Realistically, he should feel the opposite. He was a hunter and his white-haired companion was a vampire. If this deal they had going on didn't work out, their newly found friendship would complicate things horribly. Even if it did work out, it would be harder for him to hide from his siblings what Bakura and Ryou were. This might even be a bigger challenge, but for now the task seemed easy. He could make it work. He could be friends with a vampire.

"Hey. Friends do things for other friends don't they?" Marik questioned slyly as an idea struck him.

"Just what is it you want?" Bakura questioned sweetly.

"Well... See, when your brother came to bring me here he sort of caused me to crash my motorcycle..." Marik began, grin stretching. Bakura caught on right away and his eyes gave a brief flash of chilling red as he too broke out into an evil smirk.

"Oh, don't worry about that. We'll get you another bike."

00000

To say Isis was angry was the understatement of the century. She was practically breathing fire down his neck the very moment he stepped into the room.

After Marik's talk with Bakura, Ryou had come down from the stairs. Having overheard everything they'd said, he was overjoyed that the two of them had not only decided to be civil, but had come to the conclusion that they were friends. A short while after that both twins had accompanied him to school since he couldn't ride his motorcycle, which Ryou vehemently apologized for. Neither of the twins had followed Marik into the building, as both said that now they knew they would be staying they had to unpack all of their things. He'd gone to his class, which was the third one of the day since he'd missed the first two, and carried on through the rest of the day as of nothing at all had happened. Malik asked him many annoying questions like why he hadn't been there during the first class and why he was hurt and why he was riding the bus instead of his bike, but Marik waved the questions off, saying that he would hear when Isis did. Then they had gone home, and the instant Isis saw him she exploded.

"Marik Ishtar! What in the _world_ have you been doing? Yesterday you got in trouble for being out so late and what do you do today? Get into more trouble! And right before school too! What were you thinking?" Isis screeched, eyes blazing. Marik wisely said nothing just yet. He would let Isis tell him exactly how much she knew, and then he would remedy the situation. Somehow.

"I received a call his morning while I was at work from your school, wanting to know where you were. Of course I had to leave the museum and return home to see if you were there. I got home just in time to get another phone call from the police saying that your motorcycle had been found trashed in a back ally. I tried calling Rishid to see if he knew where you were or what had happened but he didn't know anything about any of this. So I called the school again to see if you were there yet and they told me that you were. Now this whole time I've been trying to figure out what exactly could have happened to you for an hour and a half and I've come up with a lot of ideas, but I think I'll just wait to see what you say. So spill it," Isis growled dangerously.

"Your motorcycle is trashed?" Malik asked with interest from where he sat on the couch, fingers laced together under his chin. His dark mauve eyes glinted. He was taking way too much pleasure from this.

"Yeah," Marik answered quietly. He'd loved his motorcycle. Isis and Rishid had pitched in to buy it for his sixteenth birthday once he'd gotten his driver's license. He had wanted one since the age of seven and when he'd opened the present and seen the keys, then the bike out in his driveway, shiny and powerful like some sort of metallic monster... and to know that it was his, all his... it had honestly been the best moment of his life. And then driving it for the first time... Now it was all gone, probably already lying in a landfill like a hunk of twisted metal. The idea of his precious motorcycle being forced to suffer such indignation actually caused a more prominent pain than any of the bruises or scrapes he had acquired throughout the day.

"I'm surprised you aren't in jail for killing the guy who made you crash it then. Sometimes I think you love that bike of yours more than you do any of us," Malik commented.

"Malik please! I would like to hear what Marik has to say for himself," Isis lashed out. Malik rolled his eyes quickly and muttered "As you wish sister dearest" just as Isis rapid-fired another question his way.

"You didn't get thrown into jail did you? Is that why you weren't in school?"

"Gods no Isis! I didn't get put into a jail cell! Next I suppose you'll be asking me if I did kill someone! I'm not some huge criminal or something!" Marik yelled.

"Marik, you know I didn't mean to insinuate anything, but in the past..." Isis trailed off, her blue eyes becoming unfocused and clouded over, and her face crinkling with old worry, making her look years older than she actually was, like she was their mother instead of their sister.

"Yeah I know. Back in Egypt Malik and I weren't exactly ship-shape kids, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go on a killing spree throughout Domino!" Marik lashed out, fist clenched, bringing his sister's undivided attention back to him. The worry lines temporarily vanished, but they would be back. They were always back because Isis just couldn't stop thinking about Egypt and thought that every little bad thing he and his brother did undoubtedly meant they were going to do something terrible again. Marik just wanted to scream at her to let it go, to forget about it like the rest of them had... but Isis never would. She blamed herself for it, and thinking of it was her self-decided punishment. That was stupid too, and he couldn't help but get mad now every time she mentioned it.

"Marik... I just want to keep the two of you safe... I'm sorry for assuming such things, but what else can I do...? You understand, don't you...?" Isis questioned, lip trembling, tears threatening to spill over her expressive ocean blue eyes. Marik looked away, still angry, but he didn't want to see his sister cry. He heard Malik mumble an awkward, half-hearted "yeah" and he found it in himself to do the same. Then they remained quiet until Isis had recovered.

"Well, how about you tell us what happened Marik," Isis suggested. She smiled a fake smile like everything was all right, but of course nothing was.

"Sure," He said, letting go of his anger. Right now he had his own problems to deal with. His sister's could wait. "I was on my way to school when some guy darted out into the street and got in my way. I had to swerve out of the way and ended up crashing. As you can see, I got banged up pretty well." The scrapes he had gotten were from the accident with Ryou, but most of the bruises were a result of his brief fight with Bakura. But his siblings didn't need to know that.

"The man had gone before I could get his legal information or even see his face. Everything happened so fast, I doubt I could even tell you who it was if I ever saw him again," Marik said. Better to say that the imaginary person who'd made him crash had gotten away than to deal with the problems of legal work that didn't really exist. That would certainly cause problems.

"I didn't know what else to do so I left the bike there and went to school," Marik finished, shrugging slightly. Isis remained quiet for a moment and over her shoulder Malik lost the excited look he had been wearing when he realized his brother's escapades had been quite boring. At least, the story he'd been told was.

"Why didn't you call me? I've been worrying this whole time about you! I knew we should never have gotten you that bike! You're lucky you didn't injure yourself even worse!" Isis sighed, exasperated.

"I would have called you but I had other things on my mind. When I was on my way to the school I ran into Bakura and found out that the two of us are friends," Marik announced. Isis' face lit up at this statement and Marik smirked. Now she would forget all about the trouble he should have gotten into and instead merely be happy for him.

"You made a friend? Oh Marik this is brilliant! I've got a wonderful idea! You should invite him over for dinner one day, that way Rishid and I can meet him! Oh! This must be the best news I've heard all day!" Isis exclaimed joyously. Without any warning she grabbed Marik in a bone-crushing hug. Marik would have protested against this, but he was too horrified to do much. His smirk had vanished and he felt an acute sinking pit of dread forming in his stomach. Bakura was a vampire. And vampires definitely could not eat normal food, could they?

Marik pulled away from his sister quickly and smiled even as the pit grew bigger and bigger. "You don't have to do that Isis! Technically you already met Bakura once and besides, Malik and I are still grounded! You know we can't cook a whole dinner!" He reasoned, praying that she would let it go.

But of course she didn't.

"Oh don't be silly! I said hi to him once, I wouldn't say that I met him. I want to get to know him and find out if he'd be a good influence on you. And don't worry about the cooking thing. You can ask him to come over tomorrow and I'll cook for you. I'll make koshari," Isis decided.

"Sis, you really don't need to! I wouldn't want to put any pressure on you!" Marik protested.

"It's fine. Don't worry about a thing other than getting your little friend to come over," Isis smiled. And Marik knew that he was screwed.

00000

"You are coming with me now."

Marik had gone to sleep last night trying to come up with a way to get out of this hole he'd unwittingly dug for himself. Unfortunately, he'd come up with nothing. Throughout the day he'd bugged Isis relentlessly to get Bakura out of coming to his house for dinner, but his sister was stubborn and near the end of the day had begun to question why he seemed so reluctant to bring his friend over. After that he'd stopped trying with Isis and had instead concentrated his thoughts on what he could say to his new friend to convince him not to come. That plan should have been easy enough to accomplish (after all, what kind of vampire would willingly come into a house where his secret could be exposed?), but that uneasy feeling in his gut told him otherwise. And so, ignoring his instinct, that day at school when Marik saw Bakura had come to school, he grabbed him by the hand and promptly led him out of the classroom and into the bathroom.

"My my Marik. I didn't think you would want to do something like this together in the school bathroom," Bakura smirked, suggestively quirking an eyebrow.

"What?" Marik demanded snappishly. He was agitated enough as it was without Bakura making nonsensical comments to add to his frustration.

"Well, I suppose if this is a kink of yours I can deal with it. Although if you aren't quiet we'll get caught. Unless... you want to get caught...?" Bakura continued on deviously, oblivious of the dark glare he was receiving from his companion. He cackled evilly the moment Marik understood what was being implied and hastily dropped the slender hand he now realized he was still grasping.

"What is wrong with you? You think I... No! No no no! I only took you here because we wouldn't be interrupted!" Marik yelled, waving his arms around animatedly. Bakura shot him a seductive look and raised his eyebrows again, and the Egyptian's tanned face turned a dark red as he realized what he'd said still hadn't come out the away he'd wanted it to.

"No! Not interrupted! I meant so that we wouldn't be overheard! ...Agh no! So that nobody would find out about your secret!" He cried out, very flustered by this point. Bakura just looked on with a cocky smirk and said absolutely nothing.

Marik shut up and closed his eyes, took in a deep breath of air and concentrated on calming himself down. "Look," he said when he had his unsightly blush under control, "This is important, so just shut up and listen. My sister wants you to come over for dinner and she won't take no for an answer. She's all excited about me getting a friend." He skimmed quickly over than part, embarrassed that his sister would make such a big deal over something like this.

"Anyways," He continued quickly, "You can some up with me some sort of excuse, and then I'll tell Isis and we won't have to worry about this whole thing."

"What if I want to go?" Bakura asked abruptly.

"Why would you?" Marik deadpanned.

"It seems interesting," Bakura waved the question off sweetly. Marik stared at him. That feeling he'd been having seemed to be laughing at him, but right now all Marik could think of was why Bakura would ever want to come to his house to have dinner with his family. He'd been extremely unwilling to have Marik know what he and Ryou were, but now he would practically be shouting it to his family. And Marik could think of no reason why he would do this. Did he really think that everything would turn out well? Did he think that Marik would protect him?

"Can you even eat food?" Marik asked, praying that he could not.

"Sure. It's not my favorite thing to do, as I'm sure you can imagine and it taste disgusting, but I can do it. Meat I can consume fairly well," Bakura answered.

"Well whatever, if you really want to do this then fine. But don't expect me to save your ass when you mess up," Marik commented carelessly.

"I'm sure you'd like very much to save my ass, but I don't think I'll be needing it," Bakura said with a mischievous little smirk. Marik clenched his fist and instead of punching the vampire for his suggestive comments he instead smirked.

"Oh, and my whole family are vegetarians."

00000

Bakura came home with him on the bus after school. Marik hadn't wanted him to and so hadn't told the vampire which bus to take, but somehow he found out anyways. He sat in the seat next to Marik. When Malik came onto the bus he passed their seat with a scowl but said nothing, which Marik was grateful for. He did not need to get kicked off the bus because the two biggest idiots in his life got into a fight. So instead he spent the bus ride home doodling inappropriate stick figures on the back of the seat in permanent marker with Bakura. He did understand that this was just as likely to get him kicked off the bus, but at least this was fun. Whatever. Call him a hypocrite.

When they got off they went up into his room. He tried to do homework and most of the time Bakura poked around his room or successfully distracted him from said homework. When Isis returned home from work, soon followed closely by Rishid, both enthusiastically greeted him and Isis proclaimed that she would start the food right away.

"So," Bakura said after Isis left, "If I'm going to have to eat your weird vegetarian food, how about telling me what it is first?"

"You didn't have to come. I gave you fair warning," Marik replied. He sprung up from where he'd been boredly drawing figurines of their first period classmates sprawled out in various dying positions on the front of Bakura's binder on his bed. "Isis said yesterday that she was making koshari."

"Uh-huh. And what exactly is that?" Bakura asked.

"It's an Egyptian dish made with different layers of lentils, rice, noodles, onions, and chick peas, and it's topped with a tomato paste It's very good," Marik answered.

"Oh wonderful. I didn't like lentils or chickpeas even when I had still been alive. Why oh why can't you be ravenous meat-eaters?" Bakura sighed melodramatically. One of his unnaturally long canines glinted in the light and Marik involuntarily shivered. Friend or not, Bakura was still a vampire. He couldn't forget that. He thought that he could trust his new friend, but years of hunting had taught Marik that vampires were tricky. He hoped that it wasn't so, but Bakura could easily be trying to fool him. He had to keep his eyes peeled.

"You could still leave. It's not too late you know," Marik sighed.

"Nah, I think I'll tough it out. Hey, why don't we go bug your psycho brother?" Bakura suggested, grinning maliciously.

"You do know that he doesn't like you very much don't you?" Marik asked, rather interested now. He'd given up on accomplishing any of his homework a while ago and without something to do things were pretty boring. Maybe bothering Malik wasn't a good idea though. His twin had been acting very well since the two of them had had their talk, but from the look on his brother's face when he got on the bus he knew that Malik was nearing the end of his patience for Bakura.

"That just makes things all the better," Bakura grinned. He'd been sitting on the chair at the desk and now he climbed off it and sauntered his way to Marik's bed. His slim hips swayed almost hypnotically in a fashion that couldn't help but to capture Marik's eye, and so he didn't protest in the slightest when his companion joined him on the bed.

Bakura moved with inhuman speed suddenly and pinned Marik against the wall. Marik blinked and began to struggle furiously as the first waves of fear overcame him, but Bakura leaned in close to him, lips almost touching his ear, and now Marik froze. He could hear the deafening beat of his heat and fear paralyzed his limbs. Those fangs were now dangerously close to his neck.

"Stop freaking out! I'm not doing anything to you, you moron!" Bakura hissed quietly, still smirking in his creepy, deranged way, and that alone made Marik's thudding heart nearly burst. The only thing that kept him from screaming out for help was that Bakura's eyes were still brown. Surely they would change to red if he were to really do something?

"Listen! The thud just now made your brother stop whatever he was doing. I'm sure he's listening to us right now. And what do you think we're going to do?" Bakura asked quietly. Those brown eyes locked with his lilac ones and he understood that this was not a rhetorical question and his companion was actually waiting for an answer, but Marik could say nothing. Even with Bakura's assurance that he was okay he was still afraid, but it wasn't fear anymore that kept him silent.

His body felt strangely hot, especially the places Bakura touched. Their bodies were almost flush against each other, and he wanted to push off the wall and close the gap between them. He wanted to, but he couldn't move. He felt frozen in place but for his hammering heart. It may have been the fear but it could have been Bakura's intense gaze that held him still. With how close the two of them were Marik could see that the eyes he had thought to have been merely a dark chestnut brown had hues of dark red embedded in them, making them look like a crimson brown up close. Emotion swirled in those eyes, dark and intense and unreadable.

"Ba-Bakura..." Marik stuttered. Bakura cocked his head to the side, beautiful ivory hair spilling over his shoulder like some kind of flowing river of quicksilver. Marik's thoughts left his head and what he had been about to say flew out the proverbial window. He shook his head slightly the first movement he'd been able to make since he'd been pinned against the wall. Bakura smirked at how clueless he was and suddenly released his grip on Marik's wrists and slid his hands along up them until both of theirs touched and simultaneously both closed their hands around the others. The movement caused their bodies to touch just briefly and Marik stifled a small gasp as the air around the two of them heated up.

"Ahhhh Marik...!" Bakura moaned loudly. The spell was broken and Marik wrenched himself away from the other teen. The heat around them evaporated and seemingly all transferred to his cheeks.

"_What are you doing?_" He demanded.

"Freaking out your brother of course," His white-haired companion replied cheerfully.

"Well not like that! I _do not_ need my brother thinking that you and I were doing unmentionable things together in my bed!" Marik hissed through clenched teeth.

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong!"

"Why?"

"Because-!"

Marik stopped. He didn't have an answer. No one in his family was gay, so he wasn't used to such a lifestyle, but did that mean it was bad? Or wrong? There were tons of people that were gay and they were all fine. Ra wasn't making any of them spontaneously combust as a sign of his displeasure. And could being with a person as stunning as Bakura really be bad?

He quickly stopped that train of thought and looked at the person he'd just been thinking of. "Does that mean you're gay?"

Before Bakura could say anything and Marik could solve a question that had been on his mind for some time now the door to his room swung open. With almost as much speed as the vampire himself Malik had stomped across the room and lifted Bakura by his collar off the bed. Both teens stood in the middle of the room glaring at the other with looks that could kill twenty times over. Malik's dark eyes were swarming with undisguised fury and hate and his face was a twisted snarl of loathing.

Marik jumped up from his seat. This was not good. Malik looked like he was ready to murder Bakura, and if he provoked him enough Bakura's eyes could turn red at any moment and everything would be ruined. Marik grasped his brother's arm and Malik actually released one of his hands on Bakura's shirt to bat Marik off him as if he were nothing more than a pesky fly. Bakura snarled at him.

"I'm going to kill you for touching my brother," Malik growled.

"Go ahead and try it Porcupine," Bakura snarled back.

"No!" Marik yelled, "No one is doing anything! Malik, nothing happened! Bakura did that just to mess with you!" Malik looked at him briefly for a second, then swiveled his frightening stare back to Bakura.

"It obviously worked too. You sure are riled up," Bakura taunted, smirking now but still glaring back at Malik with as much power as he could. Malik grunted and pulled the pale teen even closer to him, then he too slowly smirked.

"I don't necessarily care whether it's true or not. I'm going to kill you either way," He grinned. Marik didn't wait any longer. He grabbed Malik's arm and wrenched it away from Bakura, then the other one as well.

"Let go of me Marik!" Malik bellowed. He pushed and elbowed him but Marik held still. Behind him Bakura was watching with interest.

"No! We've had this talk already Malik! You know exactly how I feel so you have no reason to act like this! He is my friend! Nothing more, nothing less. Now enough!" Marik shouted. Malik was still. He appeared shocked that he'd been yelled at, and had not the tension been in the air around them, Marik would have laughed. His younger brother's composure only slipped for a moment and then his face was drawn back into a tight-lipped scowl and he yanked himself away and moved towards the door.

"Very well. If that is the case, then I'll just leave. But if I hear the two of you again I _will_ come back and I _will not_ leave, Marik." And with that warning he was gone. Marik spun and faced Bakura.

"You!" He pointed, "You leave him alone or when he comes back next time I'll just let him go at you!"

"Hmph. You think I won't be able to take care of your brother? I'm very powerful you know. I could have easily gotten away from you if you hadn't used that trap of yours," Bakura said smugly.

"You might be powerful but Malik isn't a pushover. And if he happens to find out then he'll be able to do what I couldn't. And if that happens I won't be able to do anything to stop it," Marik retorted darkly.

"Well you're no fun. In that case I suppose I'll have to refrain from tormenting your rather unstable brother. Instead, I'll just have my fun with you." Bakura's smirk sent shivers down his spine and gave him a brief reminder of the heat that had been between them on the bed and the way he'd wanted Bakura to touch him and had responded when for a fleeting moment he'd gotten his wish. He wondered what exactly Bakura had meant by his ambiguous statement and what the answer to the question he'd asked would have been. He continued to wonder about these things as they forgot about the event that had just occurred and talked about meaningless subjects until the food finished, and even then as he descended the stairs when Isis called that it was done he still couldn't help thinking about it.

He smelled the food before he saw it. The reason he and Malik had never learned to cook, and even Rishid, who wasn't very good at it, was in all likelihood because the three of them were spoiled by Isis's cooking. Their sister could have been a chef if she hadn't found her calling in ancient artifacts.

Marik eagerly took a seat and inhaled the delicious scent of koshari coming from the kitchen, His stomach growled in anticipation. Ah yes... real food. And koshari was his favorite. Bakura, however, must have felt entirely different, for when he inhaled the smell he crinkled for his nose back in what was most obviously disgust.

"Aw, doesn't seem as if you'll like it, does it?" Marik asked with false sympathy. Bakura looked almost embarrassed, like he was surprised that he'd been caught, and Marik smiled smugly. He'd done the right thing by trying to get Bakura out of this, but that hadn't gone so well and now he was going to sit back, take it easy, and enjoy his new friend's plight.

"Your concern for me is flattering, but not needed. I'll be fine pretty boy, so you just worry about yourself," Bakura said confidently.

"Oh, I'll be okay. You on the other hand, you I'm not so sure of. You can act as confident as you'd like, but I'm sure you're nervous," Marik smiled. Bakura raised an eyebrow and flashed him a brief, but stunning fanged smirk.

"Please. I've had more than enough experience with fooling you humans," He scoffed, "And vegetables are no match for my power of will."

"Tch, stubbornness is what I'd call it," Marik rebuked, then quickly transformed his smug grin into a dazzling smile as Rishid entered the kitchen. Malik followed him soon after, but unlike Rishid, he did not smile back. Instead his brother slid into the seat across from Marik without a word. The two normally sat next to each other, but today Bakura took his spot.

His twin's face was calm but cold. Marik made a mental note to leave him alone for the duration of Bakura's stay here. And then once he had left he could have a talk with his brother. Until then he would have to make sure Bakura didn't bother him anymore.

The four males sat silently together until Isis came into the dining room carrying with her their plates. She set plates in front of Bakura, Marik, and Malik, then went back to get her's and Rishid's. Both Ishtar twins tore into their food like ravenous wolves.

"Marik! Malik! That is no way to behave in front of company!" Isis reprimanded when she reentered the dining room. Both twins looked up from their food with identical looks of disappointment on their similar faces and impatiently waited until Isis had passed out the rest of the plates and unwillingly again began to use their manner when eating.

"You'd think we never fed them," Isis remarked to Rishid, then turned smiling to Bakura. "So, how is the food?" Marik stopped shoveling food into his mouth for a quick second to take a look at Bakura. For a moment he was surprised by the question aimed at him, but then he regained his composure and carefully scooped up some of the koshari. He kept his face carefully sculpted in a calm expression as he muscled the food down. Then he broke out into a sensational, heart-melting grin.

"This comes close to being the most delicious food I've ever had Isis-san. You are a brilliant cook," Bakura said smoothly. Isis actually blushed and had to lower her gaze away from his dark brown one.

"Oh, it's not that good I'm sure," Isis laughed, waving off the compliment. She looked back at him and smiled. "Actually, I was a bit worried that you wouldn't have liked it. You see, we're all vegetarians and so I'm sure you wouldn't be used to the food we eat. I was so surprised that Marik made a friend I forgot to tell him to ask you if what I was making would be okay, and I'm sure he didn't remember. But I'm glad that everything is okay."

"It's great, it really is. I'm not that big of a meat-eater myself actually," Bakura said, grinning easily. Marik couldn't help but grin too before he delved back into his food. Cunning vampire.

"So how did you two become friends?" Rishid asked Bakura conversely. Marik was too busy eating to notice the smirk that Bakura got on his face.

"Well, after the initial fight we had Marik helped my brother out at school and the two of us started talking. Then your brother generously saved me from some trouble and in the middle of a fight we were having we decided that there was some kind of a friendship between us," Bakura grinned.

"Marik saved you? How so?" Isis inquired. Upon hearing his name Marik looked up from his food. He saw Bakura cast him a sideways glance and noticed the way Isis and Rishid were watching him and how even Malik seemed to be listening while still eating.

"He came to my rescue like some sort of personal knight in shining armor and so I figured, if he wanted to save me so badly I would let him," Bakura continued. Marik's spoon dropped and he kicked Bakura from under the table. Bakura dropped his own silverware and his smirk faded.

"I just let him copy some of my homework is all. No need to make such a big deal out of it Bakura!" Marik laughed. He slapped his friend heartily on the back three times and shot him a concealed glare.

"Don't say it like that you idiot!" He growled lowly, "And don't give so much away either!"

Bakura smirked again and now he kicked Marik, who managed to keep his fake smile plastered on his face.

"I was just telling your family what they wanted to hear," Bakura answered back quietly. Marik glared at him again. Isis and Rishid exchanged looks while Malik looked at both of them with obvious disgust before turning back to his meal. It was at this time that both Bakura and Marik realized they were being watched and both quickly ceased what had begun to turn into a kicking match under the table. They laughed sheepishly and turned back to their plates.

For the next few moment dinner was an awkward silence interrupted only by the sounds of eating and small coughs made by Isis to try and jumpstart the conversation. When Marik finished his plate of koshari and went to get a second helping he gleefully saw that Bakura had hardly eaten three bites off his plate. _Serves you right_, Marik sniggered.

"So you have a brother?" Isis asked, finally breaking the silence. Not that Marik cared too much himself, because a silent dinner meant more time for him to devour his food and fill the void in his stomach that however many days of eating ramen and cafeteria food had created.

"Yup. His name is Ryou and actually, the two of us are identical twins as well," Bakura said. He took a small bite of the food in front of him and smiled when he gulped it down.

"What a coincidence! Marik, you should have invited him as well!" Isis chided. Marik rolled his yes and mumbled "yeah yeah." Now Isis rolled her eyes and asked Bakura more questions about Ryou. Marik threw in the odd comment once in a while and Rishid also asked some questions and added to the conversation. Malik stayed silent for the most part, despite Isis's attempts to include him. When it became obvious that he was not going to give his input everyone more or less left him to his own devices. Marik found himself looking at his brother a few times through the dinner and wishing he knew what he was thinking. He didn't like Bakura, that much was obvious, but why exactly? If anything, Marik would have thought the two of them would get along easily. It was scary to think of, but the two of them _were_ similar.

Other than the problems with Malik and the once-in-a-while awkward silences, the dinner conversation moved forward nicely. When Bakura had said he was good at fooling humans he had meant it. He acted polite and answered all the questions he was asked with a smile on his charming face. Of course, only Marik knew that those answers weren't always correct and the smile he wore was more of a condescending smirk if you took in the glint to be found in his chocolate eyes... but Isis and Rishid seemed to fall for it, and that was a good thing because if Isis especially hadn't liked Bakura then there was a very good chance Marik wouldn't be seeing him again. Which was a shame, because he actually liked his vampiric friend.

After everyone had eaten (Bakura had managed to choke down one plate himself, whereas Marik had gone through three), Rishid retired to his room because he had to get up early, and Malik sulked up to his as well. Isis said that she would take care of the dishes, so Bakura and Marik headed to the living room.

"Now this is a couch," Bakura announced as he sprawled across it, taking up a whole two cushions. Marik perched on the last one and watched him. "Not at all like that crappy loveseat Ryou bought for us." Marik chuckled softly and leant back into the couch. Bakura's hand rested only a few inches away from him, but so long as they were not touching he didn't care.

"Well, I have to say that I am impressed. I really didn't think you would be able to handle that as well as you did," Marik said. Bakura sat up straight and looked him straight in the eye. Marik thought he saw a brief flash of red among the deep chestnut color, but it was so fast that he decided he must have imagined it. And besides, why would Bakura be feeling strong emotion? All the same, he shivered.

"I told you that you didn't need to worry," Bakura purred. He inched slightly closer to Marik, and now his hand wasn't so far apart, but he stayed still, watching his friend, who now flashed him a lazy smirk and a teasing look through half-lidded eyes.

"You didn't seem too worried yourself and one of us had to be," Marik said. His voice, so steady only a moment before Bakura had moved, now wavered uncertainly.

"Awww... I'm touched. Hmm, maybe you are my personal knight in shining armor," Bakura teased. Now he was so close he was almost on top of Marik. He hadn't even noticed the white-haired teen move. Now he felt very uncertain and uncomfortable, and all of a sudden he felt hot again like he had in his room when he'd been this close to Bakura before.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, trying to sound like he was still in charge. Instead he sounded much like a terrified mouse.

"Nothing much," Bakura smiled cheerfully. He loomed over Marik, trapping him with his back against the arm of the couch. Again Marik felt paralyzed and unable to move, unable to get away if he so desired. _If._ Out of everything that was happening so fast, the fact that he'd thought "if" screamed at him. Why would he say if? If meant that he might not want to move, and surely that couldn't be right!

Bakura leaned closer, ever closer, and the temperature increased again. He could feel heat emanating from the body almost touching his own, and again the insane want to arch his back and touch Bakura's body with his own possessed Marik, this time so strong he moved a fraction of an inch before stopping himself.

His breathing came out in labored, ragged huffs and when he did move it was not of his own accord. Marik's body felt like it was no longer his own. Bakura had done something to him again, like he had when he'd bitten him in the shack, had to have! Why else would he have these urges to want to stay with Bakura, to want to touch Bakura, to want to-

Lips. Lips on his own. Bakura's. Marik's mind, which until this moment had been brimming with a hazy fog of questions, melted down and shut off, and now the only thought that possessed him were those lips.

Bakura's lips were soft against his own, and when he kissed him it was with his eyes open. Marik's own almost fluttered shut, but he saw brown flicker to red, and this time he knew he hadn't been seeing things. Their sudden change in color made him moan around Bakura's mouth and he grabbed a fistful of his shirt and brought their bodies smashing together. The rise in heat almost made him moan again. He felt Bakura shudder above him, then felt a tongue prying against his lips, which Marik opened to allow access without a thought.

He was about to shift horizontally along the couch so it would be easier and more comfortable for him and Bakura to continue their _activities_ when he heard the noise. As if he were snapped out of a trance Marik tore away from Bakura to the source of the noise–it had sounded like glass breaking. Maybe Isis had some trouble in the kitchen. But instead of seeing Isis, Marik saw his brother standing in the entrance to the living room, hand still frozen as if he were still carrying what now lie in pieces on the floor.

The expression on Malik's face was hysterical. His brother was flabbergasted, his mouth was open and his eyes were wide. He'd never seen Malik look so comical before, so damn funny, but instead of laughing Marik felt sick to his stomach. His brain had turned back on and it was freaking because not only had he just made out with Bakura, but his brother, his little brother, had walked in on it and seen.

Marik snapped to action and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, breaking the silvery string of saliva that still connected him to Bakura, wanted to get off the couch and out from under Bakura too but the idiot was not moving.

"Malik, it's not what it looks like!" He blurted out, stupid and cliché really but the first thing that popped into his frazzled mind all the same, but Malik had already gone. Only the heavy footsteps going up the stairs and the shattered glass were proof that he had even been there.

Marik pushed Bakura off him finally and sprung from the couch. He needed to talk to Malik, and Malik would be up in his room. But a hand on his arm stopped him before he could head there.

"Do you think you should go up there? He looked upset." Bakura. Marik heard the slightest tinge of worry in his voice, but he didn't look at Bakura.

"You need to leave now," He said, troubled lilac eyes still locked on the stairs Malik had gone up. He yanked away from Bakura, who remained silent, and waited to know that he had left before running up the stairs two at a time. Maybe Bakura was right and he should just wait for Malik to calm down, but then again, it was Bakura's fault that Malik was like this in the first place. And Marik needed to make that better.

* * *

Woot! So how was that long chapter! Haha, hope it was good! Oooh, and what will happen next? Well, I knows! Heehee XD Blah, so anyways, time for my usual rant.

Okay, first up, I really liked the segment with Bakura coming back home to see Ryou. Just thought you all should know that. Yup. Second! So before school ended I had been taking Psychology, and there werea alot of cool disorders and stuff that we talked about, and schizophrenia seemed like a really cool one. So I'd actually been toying with the idea for a while of stopping this chapter midway (around the part where Marik is freaking about because he thinks Ryou's gonna get him), and then making it turn out that everything's all been in Marik's head 'cuz he's a looney! Yay! I obviously didn't (no, that'll be for another story), but how would you all have liked it if I did? It would have been interesting, I'm sure. Third, did the whole "Let's become friends now!" thing with Bakura and Marik seem kind of rushed? I don't know, to me it sort of seemed like one minute I had them at each otehr's throats and the next they were nice and happy. Fourth, how did you like the ending to this chapter? I thought it was sort of rushed too. Well... maybe not. Eh, I'm not sure. And lastly, just a note, I mentioned a dish called koshari above. Koshari is a traditional vegetarian Egyptian dish, and I think I read somewhere that it was Marik's favorite food. maybe that's wrong, but either way, it fit pretty well so I used it. I actually made it once, and it is pretty good. Of course, I'm sure if you actually got some from Egypt it'd be even better, heehee. Oh, and has anyone read my newest fanfic _Deadly Ambivalence_? (Advertising!) Because as much as I like this one, _Deadly Ambivalence_ is my baby. So go read it! I command it of you!

Okay, so that was all I needed to say. Please review, and hopefully I'll be seeing you all again very soon! Cross your fingers that my internet is returned to me!


	8. Rewards Through Hardship

Okay, here we are with chapter eight! And I really have nothing else to say than read and enjoy!

**Disclamer!:** I still do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

* * *

Marik's heart thudded heavily in his chest as he ran up the stairs. Thoughts ceaselessly ran through his head just as fast, and with just as much power and intensity. What had he done with Bakura? _Why_ had he done it, and what did it mean? Was he gay now because he had... done... _that_ with Bakura? And Malik... What could he say to Malik now? How could he explain? _Could_ he even explain? And would Malik listen? He hadn't been very willing when he first saw...

He reached the door to his twin's room and he stopped with his hand on the knob. He hesitated, and then twisted it open. He expected to encounter some kind of resistance, but the door slid open soundlessly and allowed Marik entrance.

He immediately spotted Malik standing by his bed. His back was toward him. Marik took a few steps toward him and stretched out a tentative arm to tap him on his shoulder. When he did so Malik spun around abruptly, startling Marik and causing his heart to skip a beat.

"Marik," Malik greeted. His face was contorted into a terrifying ear-to-ear grin. The same crazy, scary look he'd seen on his face that day in his room, but worse now. His dark purple eyes had a gleam to them that Marik didn't like one bit. He took a step backwards. His heart was beating crazily now, and he was again beginning to feel afraid of his brother.

With a speed almost as inhuman as Bakura's, Malik pinned him against the wall. Marik stifled a small gasp of surprise and reflexively looked for the door. His hand was at best only a foot away from the knob. But unless he could break away from Malik it wouldn't matter. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and reined in his fear and got his rapidly beating heart under control. Then he opened them and glared fiercely at his twin brother.

"Put me down Malik," He commanded. Malik only laughed and shook his head slowly.

"But it's no fun if I do that," He said eerily. Instead of putting him down Malik lifted him up higher by his shirt. Marik's feet rose off the floor until only his toes could touch.

"Why don't you stop saying such ridiculous things and tell me what the hell you were doing with your dear friend Bakura," Malik growled, expression changing now from the giddy grin to one of raging fury. His eyes constricted to steely black orbs and electricity seemed to flow from his tense body into the air surrounding them.

"Anything I was doing with him is of no concern to you," Marik said sternly, never letting his eyes leave his brother's. He could practically feel the electricity pricking at his skin and the tension and anger in the air was palpable, but he didn't break eye contact. The last time Malik had acted like this he had given in to his fear and his racing heart and things hadn't turned out very well in the end. He had lost that fight, and if Isis and Bakura hadn't interrupted the two of them he didn't have a single doubt that things would have ended much worse. This time he couldn't let Malik have his way because Bakura was gone and Isis was cleaning. If he screwed up he wouldn't have a savior this time.

Malik slammed his against the wall. "Actually Marik, yes it is. What you do with that slime is of concern to me because you and I are one and the same. You are my other half and I won't let him take you away," He snarled viciously.

"You're crazy! We aren't the same person Malik! We're only twins, and I can damn well do whatever the hell I want!" Marik swore vehemently. Malik's eyes widened, and then shrunk back to their tiny, beady state.

"'Crazy?' I'm not the one _fucking_ some guy on our living room couch!" Malik exploded, and slammed him up against the wall again. Marik stifled a grunt of pain, and before he could retaliate his brother was talking again.

"Back then, that one called me crazy too. And you know what I did to him. Do you wish to have the same fate, little Marik?" Malik cooed derisively, tone and expression changing once again from rage to insanity. And once again, through he tried not for it to show, Marik grew afraid. Oh, he knew what Malik had done all right. He himself had participated in it as well. And it wasn't what they had done that scared Marik, but how Malik could change moods so suddenly, and how could he go from saying that they were both one and how he wouldn't let Bakura take him away to that so quickly, that scared Marik. And when Malik's grin stretched further Marik knew that once again _Malik knew_ that he was afraid. And he thrived off that.

"Do you imagine that I'd actually allow you to do that to me?" Marik retorted. His voice was still strong and steady and that was good, if not for the fact that he imagined his brother could smell the fear coming off him.

"But you aren't in a position to allow anything, are you?" Malik asked, completely calm. And then he abruptly placed Marik back on the ground, then placed a hand around his neck.

"Malik! What are you doing? Let go of me this instant!" Marik demanded. But Malik was no longer in a talking mood, and he blankly stared ahead and began to tighten his grip. Marik's hands immediately grabbed at Malik's and clawed at him to make him let go. He kicked at his brother's legs but it had no effect. Slowly, Marik's windpipe began to close up and he was unable to breathe.

"Malik! Let go!" He coughed. Malik tightened his grip and looked on with steely dark purple eyes. His mouth was drawn into a tight-lipped scowl. Marik tried to kick him again and clawed at him more. Black started to eat away from his vision and any air that might have reached his desperate lungs was cut off completely. He could hear choking noises that he recognized as coming from himself, but they sounded far away. His struggles weakened and the black ate at his sight as the seconds ticked by and Malik did not release him.

He was going to die, he realized belatedly. His lungs were on fire and he was choking, but Malik wasn't letting go. He was going to die at the hands of his own twin.

Warning signs flashed all throughout Marik's head, telling him that he needed oxygen. His lungs were screaming and his windpipe was being crushed. Black was everywhere and unconsciousness beckoned him, ready and waiting to take him away and then lead him to his death. His noises stopped, as did his struggles. And then, mercifully, the iron grip was gone and air was rushing into his searing lungs and he could breathe again.

Marik felt himself fall to the floor and then he was in the air again and the colors of the world were whisking around him like he was in a high-speed blender. He could hear voices but they were far off and incomprehensible. He clung tightly to whatever had taken him and closed his eyes to block out the sickening colors. He concentrated not on the voices or what was going on but on breathing. The oxygen flowing into his lungs was the sweetest substance ever. He took the air in through his mouth and the searing pain of it going past his sore windpipes kept him conscious.

He went into what he thought was a state of semi-consciousness. He could still vaguely hear the voices but could not understand them. He could feel himself be placed on something soft and comfortable and thought that he might want to sleep here. Marik wasn't sure how long he stayed there, but the searing pain faded to a persistent throbbing ache, and although he could still not understand the words he heard, they were clear and no longer far away.

"Move out of the way. I think he's waking up..."

He was waking up, whether he wanted to or not. The protective semi-consciousness that had settled around him like a veil lifted. Marik opened his eyes and the world hit him so hard it actually hurt. Colors were no longer spinning but they were too bright. He blinked and half-shielded his eyes with an unsteady hand until they became normal, and then he looked up to see Isis and Rishid hovering above him protectively. He was in his room, lying on his bed.

He tried to talk but only managed to cough. Rishid wordlessly handed him a glass of water, which he drank greedily, then tried again.

"Rishid, Isis, what's going on?" He croaked. It hurt to speak and he instantly started coughing again and had to take another drink. Isis and Rishid exchanged worried looks, and then faced him again.

"We were hoping you could tell us that Marik. We heard banging and when we came into the room... Malik was choking you," Isis said worriedly. Marik was deathly silent. The reason Malik had released him was because Isis and Rishid had come into the room. If they hadn't... would Malik really have killed him? That look... and the gleam in his eye... Was it possible? Would his own twin really have done such a thing? And now, what could he tell his other siblings? He couldn't tell them the truth. But...

"I noticed that Malik had been acting strange during dinner. So when Bakura had left I went up to his room to talk to him. And he..." Marik said, lowering his head as he trailed off. Guilt set upon him instantly. It was his fault that Malik was like this. His fault... because of what he'd done with Bakura... And now he was lying about it. Now Malik's actions would seem even worse than they already were. He was selling his brother out just so he wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable. Malik...

"I have to go see Malik. I have to talk to him," Marik said, hoarse voice overflowing with guilt and shame. He shot up from his bed but before could get anywhere Rishid had restrained him.

"No Marik. You're staying here. I think it's best if you stay away from your brother for a while," Rishid said softly, but sternly.

"Rishid is right Marik. I want you to stay here and sleep for now. We will find out what is wrong with Malik, and then maybe you can talk to him. But for now you must sleep," Isis soothed.

"No!" Marik yelled, and almost went into another coughing fit. "I have to talk to Malik! You can't stop me from doing that! And what do you mean 'maybe' I can talk to him? What are you going to do, _watch me_ so I'm not alone with him?"

"If that's what needs to happen, then yes, I will watch over the two of you," Isis said.

"Marik, try to understand. Malik choked you. He could have killed you. We can't let you be alone with him again," Rishid tried to explain. Marik broke away from Rishid's grasp and looked at both him and Isis with shock.

"How can you say that? You're talking about him as if he were dangerous!" Marik yelled, his conscience telling him the whole time that _he_ had thought his brother was dangerous too and fueling the guilt even more.

"I don't want to! But look at what he's done Marik!" Isis shouted, exasperated.

"I've done the same things, remember? He's no more dangerous than I am!" Marik argued back. Isis got a familiar far-away look to her pretty face, the same look she got whenever someone mentioned this certain subject. But instead of lingering the look went away quickly and was replaced with stern determination.

"I don't care Marik. You weren't the one choking him, were you? You will stay here and you will sleep. You will not try to go see Marik, and if you do then I will personally sit outside of your door all night and make sure you don't go anywhere," Isis said sternly, completely calm now. She left his room before he could even think of a rebuttal. Rishid left quickly and silently as well, most likely having wanted to get out before Marik could start on him too. When both were gone Marik slumped bonelessly into his bed.

His throat ached and he took another drink of water. The cool liquid sated the pain but did nothing to ease him of the guilt that had wormed its way into his heart. That ran around his head like a rat on speed, biting him wherever it could. He hated feeling guilty and wanted to get rid of that feeling, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had seen the look in Isis's eyes. He knew that she mean business. And even if she hadn't, what would Malik so if he went to see him again? What would Malik do, and what would he do? How would he be able to explain what had happened? He couldn't. He knew that. So what could he do?

00000

When Marik woke up in the morning his throat was covered in ugly black bruises. He stared at them in the mirror, unable to comprehend that they were a result of his twin brother choking him. He didn't think of much else because he still could not truly believe that it had happened. He did though still feel the guilt of knowing that it was all his fault. And that guilt danced joyously in his head, making itself known in a persistent, sing-songy voice. When he could stand looking at them no longer he put on a high-collared shirt and grabbed his things for school.

The moment Isis caught sight of him as he descended the stairs she told him to march back up them and rest. He told her that he felt fine and he was going to school. He didn't show her the bruises. In the end Isis gave in and told him he could go, but she was going to drive him there. Neither said it, but they both knew it was a precaution taken to assure that nothing would happen on the bus. So Isis took Marik to school, and until he arrived in his first class he saw neither hide nor hair of his brother.

His eyes zoomed in on Malik's spiky head of hair when he took his first step into the classroom. Marik's heart pounded in his chest and the guilt-rat in his head snapped its terrible maw down on him. His twin was facing away from him and had not noticed his arrival. Marik wondered what he would do when he did notice. He longed to go to Malik and talk to him, but he didn't know how the other would act. The last thing he desired was for a fight to break out and be the cause of even more trouble for his brother. So instead of sitting down next to Malik, he took a seat by Bakura.

Bakura looked at him silently, inspecting him. Then one pale hand shot toward his neck and briefly yanked down his collar. Marik recoiled away from the touch and covered the collar and his bruised neck with his own hand.

"What is that?" Bakura hissed ferociously. His eyes, though still a composed brown, were narrow.

"None of your business, that's what," Marik retorted hotly. Bakura leaned closer to him to prevent other people from hearing their conversation.

"Did he do that to you?" Bakura asked, motioning his head in Malik's general direction. Marik didn't say anything to him. Bakura slammed his fist on the table and growled.

"Psychotic bastard!" He roared. Malik looked over at them and for the first time noticed Marik was there too. He turned slowly away and Bakura growled again and actually made to get out of his seat. Marik reacted quickly and grabbed him, then forced him to sit back down in his seat.

"No! It's your fault anyways! If you hadn't done anything then he never would have gotten so angry in the first place!" Marik yelled. Bakura looked bewildered, like he couldn't believe that _he_ was the one being yelled at.

"Oh, it's _my_ fault that your brother is crazy enough to choke you, is it? Well I'm so very_ sorry _then," Bakura sarcastically spat. Like deja vu, for a brief second Marik thought he saw the vampire's eyes flash bloody red. Then the flash was gone and there was only hard brown and Bakura was continuing. "And for something that was all my fault, you seemed to be enjoying it _immensely_." That comment took the fire from Marik's anger and his shoulders sagged. He had enjoyed it. But the guilt was weighing down on him and suffocating him, and he needed to remove at least some of it from his shoulders.

"You're still the one who started it!" He said a little desperately.

"Yes, but even if I hadn't I'm sure he would have gotten angry about something else and done the same thing. That's just the kind of person he is, isn't it? You know it just as well as I do, but maybe you don't want to say it," Bakura hissed quietly. And suddenly his manner changed and he straightened in his seat and looked away from Marik. Almost as an afterthought he added, "Anyways, if that's all perfectly okay with you then why should I care?" Marik stared blankly at the side of his white head, at a loss for words and strangely enough, feeling guiltier now than before.

Part of it was his fault, he knew this well, but Bakura also had to share some of the blame, right? If he hadn't... done that... then Malik wouldn't have seen them when he walked into the room. He wouldn't have gotten so angry. Things wouldn't be tense and strange between them. That was right, he knew it. But... was Bakura right also? Would Malik have gotten angry because of some other reason and still done the same thing? Actually have choked him?

"...Bakura?" Marik said softly. If the other had heard him then he showed no sign of it.

"Did you... actually care? That he did this?" Marik asked, looking away now. For some reason he couldn't look at his companion anymore.

"Why should I? You don't seem to," Bakura said, and that was it. He didn't say anything else and Marik didn't ask anything more. Instead he continued looking at the blackboard, and ignored the uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

The teacher came into the room soon enough and began the day's lesson. That didn't help nearly as much as Marik would have hoped. He was barely able to pay attention to the lesson, and instead found himself exchanging glances at Malik and Bakura. Now he had both of them mad at him, and he didn't know what to do in either case. Things would be so much simpler if he could just somehow get the two of them to become friends, but that might be an even harder task to accomplish. Over time his eyes strayed to the tense form of his brother and stayed there.

He needed to concentrate on fixing things with Malik. Bakura was just some guy who was more trouble than he was worth, but Malik was his twin brother. He _had_ to talk to him. And with Malik he was at least sure of what the problem was. Bakura was a mystery that could be solved once his life had become a little less hectic. The Malik problem needed to be solved now. And school was probably the best chance he would get without Isis or Rishid around.

When the bell that heralded the end of the class rang Marik sprung from his seat like a tightly wound coil and raced after Malik. He caught him right outside of the door.

"Malik wait! I need to talk to you!" He called out. Malik ignored his completely and strode away at a brisk pace. Marik sprinted to catch up to him and positioned himself directly in from of his brother. He scrutinized the face so similar to his own and found not even a shred of emotion in his eyes. Malik just looked bored, and even that was a stretch.

"Malik..." He said, trailing off, unsure of what more to say. And apparently Malik didn't care at all, because he swerved slightly to the right and walked away, leaving behind a deflated Marik. He was still just standing there when Bakura approached him. Marik knew instantly that he had witnessed the entire spectacle and would not doubt be here to yell some more.

"Look, I really don't want to hear anything you have to say, alright?" He said wearily. Bakura sneered slightly, then seemed to come to some internal conclusion and the sneer smoothed into a nonchalant line.

"I don't care remember? So you can do whatever you'd like and not have to worry about me at all. I just wanted to know if maybe you wanted a ride home instead of having to sit on that wretched bus since you can't ride your motorcycle," Bakura commented. Marik blinked.

"Sure, he said slowly, at first not really processing what Bakura said.

"Okay. Wait for me outside of the school at end of the day. I have some things to do first, then I'll get you," Bakura said. And before Marik could say anything in response he was gone, and for the second time in so-many minutes he was left standing confused and conflicted in the middle of the hallway. He gathered himself together and headed for his next class.

Throughout the day Marik caught glimpses of his brother in the places where the two of them would usually meet up. He didn't try to talk to him again or get his attention. Malik obviously wanted to avoid him, and so he would let him. Maybe some time apart would help take the edge off his anger. At least he hoped that it would. He really needed to explain everything to Malik, but if the other continued to act like this he didn't know how he would be expected to conquer this feat.

Marik spent his classes trying to not think about Malik, but such a task proved to be quite difficult, especially when halfway through the day the bruises on his neck began throbbing painfully. The pain made it even harder to pay attention to his schoolwork, and he had to stop himself several times from fussing with the collar of his shirt, lest someone see the bruises as Bakura had and wonder how he'd acquired them. He couldn't have been happier when the last bell of the day rang its sweet sound through the halls.

He put away his extra books at his locker and slowly walked through the halls, enjoying the fact that he didn't have to worry about running to catch his bus. Today he could try to relax, although given that Bakura was taking him home, he wasn't sure how true that statement could be. Six hundred and twelve years should have been enough for the vampire to master most forms of transportation, but Marik wasn't betting on anything where Bakura was involved.

"Hi Marik!" An annoyingly sweet voice broke Marik from his thoughts and brought him to the form of Yuugi Motou, standing all alone in front of him with a big smile permanently carved into his chipper face. For a moment Marik almost smiled, thinking what a lovely coincidence this was for Malik and him, and then he remembered and his smile fell flat. Oh. Right. He and Malik weren't exactly on speaking terms now were they?

"Hi," He muttered, briefly wondering why this kid was unable to understand that they were not friends and that he did not want to talk to him.

"Is something wrong? You've been down for the past few days," Yuugi said. Marik thought back a few days, and for the most part Yuugi was right. First he'd been troubled by what to do about Bakura, and now he had to deal with the problem of Malik.

"I did something to piss off my brother and now he won't talk to me," Marik explained shortly, not quite sure himself why he was bothering to answer the small, multi-colored haired youth when he easily could have left.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Have you apologized to him for what you did?" Yuugi asked.

"How am I supposed to do that when he won't listen to me long enough to hear it?" Marik asked sarcastically. Yuugi looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled softly.

"Well he's your brother right? He's got to listen to you eventually. Just give him some time Marik," Yuugi advised. Marik didn't say anything. He'd thought the same thing too, hadn't he? Maybe Yuugi was right too. Maybe giving Malik some time would help.

"Hey umm, do you need a ride home Marik? The buses have all left already, and Otogi lost a bet so today Jounouchi gets to drive his car! I'm sure no one would mind it we took you home. Maybe you could even hang out with us," The short kid suggested. Marik surprised him by laughing.

"Sorry, but I'll have to decline that offer. I'm already getting a ride from Bakura, and from the accounts I've heard of what Jou's driving is like, I'm not sure I'd want to risk it," He laughed.

"That's probably a good thing," Yuugi agreed, "Jou's driving can be hazardous to your health. Well, see you tomorrow Marik! Hopefully you and Malik will settle your differences soon!" He waved and then Yuugi and all his pointy-haired glory were headed down the hall. Marik smiled to himself, shook his head slightly, wondering when he'd gotten to be so nice, then continued in the opposite direction to where Bakura said he'd be waiting.

He didn't see Bakura out there, but he had expected that. After all, Bakura had said that he would be a while. Marik passed some people on his way to wait by the side of the school, probably waiting for someone like he was. Most students had run out the door to their bus or car the moment the bell rang, but some were still meandering along outside of the school. Most of them left fairly soon, and from then on the trickle of students began to decrease until Marik was only waiting with another student. They stood silently together for some time, each half-watching the other with disinterest, and then Marik's companion left when his ride arrived and he was all alone.

"If I find out this is some sort of joke I'll kick his ass," Marik murmured. He began to walk away from the building and pain suddenly exploded at the back of his head. He fell hard to the ground and heard someone remark, "Told you this wasn't over" before he blacked out.

00000

"This is stupid," Bakura said to himself. "Why in the world did I offer to give him a ride?" He sneered like he had just smelled something disgusting. Seconds later his face smoothed over and a look of what could be considered sheepish embarrassment possessed his sharp features. "Ryou will get his kicks out of this. By now he'll have already realized it, I'm sure."

He has finished talking to his Algebra 2 teacher (even after so many years of school he had still never quite gotten the hang of this one concept) and now he was leaving to find Marik. He wished he didn't have to. This morning Ryou had caught him taking the car to school and had immediately been suspicious. The two of them hardly ever used the car, mainly because of the fear of an accident. Not that they were worried about any potential harm, but that it was hugely difficult to explain to a doctor why your body was technically dead but yet you continued to live, as the two of them had unfortunately discovered.

Why Bakura had even decided to offer the ride was unknown to him, especially after what had happened this morning. It wasn't because he "_liked_" Marik. The only thing he "_liked_" about Marik was his god-like body, and maybe he thought the kid was funny. No, Marik was nothing more than a piece of particularly tasty piece of eye-candy. He was certain of that much anyways. But Ryou, Ryou was where the problem came in. Ryou was hell-bent on him falling in love with the exotic looking Egyptian teen, and Ryou would take his offer completely out of context and turn it into something twisted and sickeningly sweet. He was certain on _that_ too. So he really did not understand why, with all that trouble, he would still decide to take Marik home. Why he was acting so strange about it was also a question he would like answered.

He reached the outside of the school and to his frustration saw no sign of the teen on his mind around.

"Oh great. Now I can't even _find_ him," Bakura growled to himself. Now he was really thinking that he shouldn't have bothered. Instead of flat out leaving like he wanted to, Bakura walked around the building, thinking that maybe Marik might have just gone somewhere else to wait.

He rounded a corner of the building and a scent slammed into him so powerfully he took a step backwards. He closed his eyes and inhaled the scent deeply, grinned when he recognized it. Fresh blood. Human blood. The unquenchable thirst inside him brought his primal instinct to feed roaring to life and without a second's hesitation he followed the trail of breadcrumbs laid out so nicely before him.

Every step he took brought the smell closer and weakened his defenses against the urge to drink. When he drew nearer to the source of the enticing smell he could see the figure from which it was escaping lying prone on the hard floor. He approached it cautiously and stealthily in the fashion of a predator, as if expecting any moment his prey would bolt if he were too eager in his pursuit. He didn't notice until he was only a few feet away from the figure that it was the same person he'd been looking for. Marik was the person lying on the ground in front of him, unconscious and bleeding, and the very moment he truly noticed this Bakura's predatory instinct to hunt and feed fell flat.

He ran the rest of the way to Marik's body and fell to his knees in front of him. Marik was bleeding from a wound at the side of his head, and the platinum hair there was matted and sticky with the crimson liquid. Bakura leaned in closer to get a better look at the wound and how serious it was, but the moment the smell hit him the hunger that had temporarily subsided flared back up again at full force and demanded that he feed from the offering placed before him.

He tried to resist the urge, he really did. He told himself that Marik was injured and needed help, but his thirst was too great for him to control. His mouth watered and his fangs lowered as he remembered the exquisite taste of the human's coveted exotic blood. A phantom trace of the flavor, enhanced by the maddening scent filling his nostrils completely overtook Bakura's rational mind and clouded over his judgment. His hunger spoke to him and told him that nothing else mattered but to feed, so he bent slowly over Marik's still form and licked at his bloodied ear.

The liquid tasted just as good now as it had back when he first sampled it, even more so now. Warmth rushed into his long-dead body and reanimated all of his instincts and desires. He felt like he wanted to scream to the world and show everyone how alive he felt, how wonderful it was to again almost hear the beating of a heart that had lied dormant for so many cold centuries. His lips quivered with excitement, for if just a few meager licks of blood could do this to him, could stoke the hot fires of his life in his body, then what would more do?

He readied his fangs to find the answer to that delectable question when just as last time the image of his brother flashed before him. Bakura withdrew sharply, fangs once again withdrawing into his gum line, hunger begging him to take just one drink even as an intense wave of repulsion hit him like a tidal wave. He jumped to his feet and faster than even he thought was possible he had jumped onto the wall of the school building. His fingers sunk into the crevices between the bricks and he quickly scaled up the side of the building until he reached the top.

He could see Marik lying on the ground, still bleeding, and he shuddered, then took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number Marik had given to him for his house. He heard the phone ring and soon someone picked it up.

"What?" A voice drawled. For a moment Bakura blinked. The voice on the phone was so similar to Marik's that for a split second he forgot that the aforementioned teen was still unconscious on the ground. He hadn't expected Malik to pick up the phone.

"This is Bakura," He said.

"Wonderful," Malik replied before he could get a chance to continue.

"Your brother was supposed to come to my house and work on a project. It's been about a half hour and he isn't here yet, so maybe you should send someone over to the school and see whether or not he's still there," Bakura said. He waited for a moment.

"Okay," Malik said finally, and he hung up the phone. Bakura put his away and wondered what he would do it Malik never showed up. He leaned over the building to look at Marik's unconscious form and another wave of the delicious scent of blood assaulted his senses. His fingers clenched on the brick ledge and his limbs shook. Every cell in his body urged him to go down there and finish the job once and for all and be done with this nonsense, but Bakura didn't budge.

He knew that it would be in Marik's best interest if he went down there to help him. From the fresh scents of blood that continued to drift up to him he could tell that the teen was still bleeding, and since he knew virtually nothing about medicine he also didn't know how bad the injury was. Marik could have a concussion and he would be none the wiser. But going down there meant that he would be closer to the maddening smell, and he doubted that he'd be able to control himself a second time. In the long run, it would be better for the both of them if he stayed away. And hopefully someone would come for Marik soon.

Bakura watched the still form of Marik without once taking his eyes off him. His hunger came and went. At times he almost thought he would go down there and help, at others it was all he could do not to go down there. He contemplated calling an ambulance, but in the end decided that action would only complicate things further. When Marik awoke they would tell him some mystery caller had informed them of his whereabouts and state. Marik wasn't stupid, so he'd eventually put two and two together and figure out that he was the called. And what would he say then? "Sorry I couldn't take you there myself, but I barely stopped myself from eating you as it was." No. Not going to happen.

So Bakura waited, and his patience was rewarded when Malik himself showed up. Upon seeing his battered brother the youngest of the Ishtar twins spun around wildly as if expecting to find the people who had done this. They of course were long gone, but he almost caught sight of Bakura. He managed to duck just in time. Malik took out a cell phone and dialed a number, and within minutes an ambulance had arrived and took both twins away. When he was sure that they'd gone, Bakura scuttled back down from his perch and hopped into his car.

Even now, with Marik safely taken care of, he could still fell the need for blood hammering away at the back of his skull. When he thought about the delicious flavor of that blood his eyes flashed a dark crimson red and his fangs lowered. He envisioned Marik's long, slender, bronze neck without the jewelry that usually adorned it and he almost lost control again. He forcibly reined his desires back in and gripped the steering wheel tighter. The last time this had happened he'd needed Ryou to calm him, so now he suspected his brother would again be able to do the same. He sped to their apartment as fast as he could without getting caught.

He didn't bother to knock this time. He threw open the door and rushed in. Ryou's book bag was on the couch and noises were coming from the kitchen. When Ryou heard Bakura enter he stopped his activities and exited.

"So Bakura, did you have a good time with Marik?" He teased lightly as he came into the living room, and then he actually lifted his head up to see his brother.

"Oh god! Bakura what happened?" He asked, shock and concern both evident in his voice.

"I was looking for Marik so I could give him a ride home. When I found him he was unconscious and someone had bashed his head in. I called his brother and he took him to the hospital," Bakura explained briefly.

"That's horrible! How could someone do something so terrible? We have to go to the hospital and see if he's alright!" Ryou exclaimed nervously. He darted away from Bakura to look for his shoes and a jacket, mumbling nervously to himself the whole time. Bakura grabbed his arm and forced him to look straight at him. Ryou looked pale and one hand was already twirling a piece of hair around a slender finger.

"We can't Ryou! I can't go there. When I found him he was bleeding. I almost bit him right there. It's a miracle that I didn't. My defenses are shot. I can't go to a hospital. Especially not there, not with all the blood, not like this. And his family doesn't even know I was there. If we show up now it would be suspicious," Bakura said. Ryou frowned and just then the phone rang. He left to go get it and Bakura sunk wearily into the couch.

His mind raced with thoughts of blood. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the car, but he wasn't back to normal yet. He could still taste the faintest traces of Marik. And until they had all disappeared he would be unable to be around humans, especially the one whose blood he'd tasted and those with the same blood in them. If Ryou wanted to go than he could do so, but he was staying here.

"That was just Marik's sister. She called to tell us that Marik was in the hospital," Ryou informed, coming out of the kitchen still looking just as pale and shaken as if he'd just now been told the news. Bakura frowned, silently cursing the deity that had caused this coincidence, and got off the couch.

"Now that we know we can go see him Bakura! Isis knows you're his friend so I'm sure she'd be expecting you to come! Besides, what if he's really hurt Bakura? We should be there," Ryou said.

"I can't Ryou! I'll eat him!" Bakura protested. Ryou's tight-lipped mouth hardened into a determined expression and he frowned.

"You have to go Bakura. He's your friend and he's hurt, and that means you have to be there. Come on," Ryou said, and from his tone Bakura knew that if he tried to argue he would only be wasting time. His brother could be surprisingly adamant on some things and no matter how much they argued he would not back down. But he couldn't go, and he had to make Ryou understand that.

"Ryou please! I can't go! If you want to then fine, but I can't!" Ryou's face softened, and he quickly hugged Bakura around the middle.

"You can Bakura. I know that you're strong enough not to lose control because you haven't yet. You aren't a monster Bakura. You're a human too, and a good one, one that I trust will have the power to do the right thing. I believe in you Bakura," He said softly. The words seemed to pierce Bakura's heart and subside the rage inside his head. Ryou didn't think he was a monster or find him repulsive, even after he had twice now come home crazed with bloodlust. Even after that, Ryou was still able to call him human.

"Thank you Ryou," He said, voice almost breaking with emotion. Ryou looked up at him and he quickly erased the soft smile he was sure he was wearing in favor of a cocky grin.

They jumped into the car and sped off to the hospital, neither talking. Ryou was still worried, and while Bakura didn't want to admit it, he was too. He wondered what he would do if Marik were awake. Would he already know that his brother had been the one to bring him here? If he did, then what could Bakura say as an excuse for why he hadn't? He supposed he could say that he went home when he never found the other, but would such a weak explanation work?

At the front desk both twins lied and said they were cousins of Marik and they were given the door number without any troubles. When they reached the room they met up with the other three Ishtar siblings in the hallway.

"Bakura!" Isis called and hurried over to him. "Oh, you didn't need to come, but I'm glad you did. Marik will be happy. He's awake now but the doctor is visiting him," She explained hurriedly. She casually glanced over to Ryou and did a double take. "Oh! You must be his brother! It's Ryou isn't it? Well I'm glad that you decided to come as well. I'm sure Marik will be very glad."

Before Ryou could respond with what would be no doubt a polite response a white-clad doctor walked out of the room in front of them all.

"Well I'm pleased to say that your brother is fine. We were worried for a while there that he might have a concussion, but everything is in order. We'll keep him here overnight just in case any complications arise. In the morning he can go home and will only need to come back for a check up and to get the stitches removed. You can schedule an appointment for that with the secretary. Well, I'll get out of here now so you can all visit," He explained, smiling brightly. Isis thanked him and quickly went into the room. The doctor left and Bakura and Ryou were left alone with Malik and Rishid. An awkward silence settled about them that none tried to dismiss. Bakura chanced a look at Malik, but it told him little to nothing. The other Ishtar twin was stone-faced. The silence broke when Isis came back out.

"I told Marik that he had visitors. You can go see him now, and I'll leave you alone," She smiled, much happier now that she knew nothing was wrong. Bakura headed for the room but Ryou stayed behind.

"Are you coming?" he questioned.

"No, I think I'll stay out here for a while," Ryou answered, smiling all too sweetly for the situation. Bakura frowned, it figured that Ryou would be all for driving out to the hospital and then decide to stay out and let the two of them have some time alone. Surprisingly, he would rather it be this way. With his bloodlust under control he had realized that he really was worried for Marik. A lot more than he'd thought he'd been. Now that he knew the teen was okay some of that worry had evaporated and left anger in its place. He'd find out who did this and teach whoever it was to do such things.

He entered the hospital room and the horrid smell of it immediately hit him. The first bed he came across held an old man hooked up to numerous machines. The overpowering stench of medicine came from the man, and Bakura hurried past the bed as fast as he could.

Marik was lying on the second bed looking very small and pale, drowning as he was among all of the white sheets on the bed. He was glaring daggers at the wall next to him and his mouth was in a scowling pout. Bakura's anger faded for the moment and he successfully resisted the urge to point and laugh, deciding that that particular course of action wouldn't be much appreciated.

"Hey Blondie, how you feeling?" He teased. Marik looked up at him and his pout disappeared into a stunning grin.

"You don't even _know_ how glad I am to see you. Isis has been on my ass from the very moment I woke up, worrying incessantly about my health. You would think I was actually dying! Heh, maybe Isis thinks I really am," Marik mused, briefly scowling again.

"Well you're not, so that's good," Bakura said. Marik laughed and tossed his platinum head of hair. The action caused Bakura to notice a brief flash of white among all the gold and he glowered, recalling that the doctor had said something about stitches.

"What is that?" He questioned, voice lowering as he walked closer to the bed-ridden teen to get a better look. In a moment Marik was frowning again too as he parted his hair to reveal the white pad of gauze bandaging his head.

"Stitches," He remarked bitterly. "Stupid fuckers bashed my head in with something metal and split it open. The doctor had to shave some of my hair to get the stitches in. I'm sure it makes me look terrible, but no one has let me have a mirror or anything to see just how bad it is. Some stupid hospital policy. They don't want me to break it to pieces and start hacking away at my wrists."

"I told you you were a slut. It's very amusing to see you this concerned over your hair," Bakura chuckled.

"Shut up and tell me how bad it looks! Isis said you can't even notice, but what does she know? She's a girl," Marik said, sounding for all the world like a young child insisting that girls were gross and had cooties. Again Bakura was successfully able to resist the urge to burst out into laughter at just how ironic _that_ statement was.

"She's right, you can't even notice it. But Marik, do you know who it was that did this?" Bakura asked, voice lowering again as he remembered his previous anger. Marik nodded and it flared up like a fire fed by sweet oxygen. Oh, he would kill whoever it was that dared to mess with Marik in such a way and hurt him. Because Marik was his friend now, and messing with his friend was accountable to messing with him. And _no one_ did that.

"It was those same guys who were bothering Ryou. When I stopped them they told me they'd get back at me and I guess this is how they decided to do that," Marik answered, frowning. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, and now Bakura's anger broke free of its leash and he saw red. He hissed and slammed his fist into the cushion of Marik's bed. Marik's widened lavender eyes followed the fist and then shot to Bakura's own. Now Marik was good at hiding his fear, but even so Bakura could still see the weariness that danced in and out of those lavender depths and could hear the slightly elevated heartbeat of the other teen. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, something Ryou always advised he do whenever he was about to lose his head. He rarely ever listened to his advice, but now, in front of Marik, he chose to. He didn't want for Marik to see him really lose control, so he forced himself to calm down and only reopened his eyes when he was better.

"Feeling better now?" Marik questioned, a slight teasing lilt in his voice.

"I'll be feeling better when I can kill those assholes. But until that time comes I'll just have to contain myself," Bakura answered, and he grinned evilly. Marik smirked.

"Well I'm flattered that you care so much about me Bakura. It's very sweet of you," He said smugly.

"Tch, I don't. I still needed an excuse to fight them for what they did to Ryou. Once Ryou learns about this I'm sure he'll let me kick their asses without giving me a lecture on how I should try a 'less aggressive approach' and how 'violence solves nothing,'" Bakura quoted, mocking Ryou with a high-pitched falsetto version of his voice.

"Well if that's the case, why did you get so angry? And your eyes are still red, so I don't think you're as calm now as you'd like for me to believe," Marik pointed out. Bakura opened his mouth and began to speak, then stopped, closed it, taken aback. Were his eyes still red? He hadn't even noticed. And more importantly, how did Marik know what the color change signified?

He was confused. And surprised to find that he _was_ still angry, extremely so, and not only for the reason he'd mentioned. Sure, those guys had pissed him off in the first place by bothering Ryou, but the majority of his anger now was because of what they'd done to Marik. And then revelation hit him: When had Marik become more than just a good-looking fling to toy with?

The idea that such a thing had occurred scared him and his mind instantly balked against it. Marik had become his friend, that was it. He was still just as hot as before, and if he had his way then he would have some fun on this bed with the Egyptian, right here right now. Marik was still just a nice toy to look at, and his anger was perfectly justifiable because it was the anger of a friend and nothing more. Marik was Ryou's friend; Ryou would be angry too. That was all okay then.

"I'm angry because I am a very angry person. Just ask Ryou. And perhaps my eyes are still red because I'm _excited_ that I get to have a little fun. After all, only drinking is off-limits. I can still do anything else I'd like as long as I don't kill them or drink from them," Bakura drawled huskily, really becoming excited now that he thought about it. His hand closed around one of the blankets on Marik's bed, and he again witnessed just the smallest flash of fear in Marik's lilac eyes before it was gone. That pleased him and he grinned, allowing his fangs to slid further out of his gums.

"You probably shouldn't do that. Anyone could walk in and see you like that," Marik remarked, sounding nonplussed. Bakura sighed dramatically and sheathed his fangs, then concentrated on forcing his eyes back to their brown color. They'd been brown when he was alive too and he had liked the color (so had many of his admirers), but it was only after his death and they'd turned red that he'd grown tired of the muddy hue of them. He actually liked that he didn't have to worry about his eyes turning red while he was with Marik. It was such a pain to continually hide the color. But he supposed Marik was right. If anyone came into the room and saw him in vamp mode they would freak, especially if it was a member of the Ishtar family.

"You just have to ruin all my fun, don't you?" Bakura mock pouted, and Marik grinned.

00000

About a minute after Bakura went into the room Isis stood up out of her seat with a flourish and looked expectantly at the others sitting with her in the hallway.

"Well, now that we know everything is okay, I'm going to head down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. Would anyone like to accompany me?" She asked nicely. Rishid silently left his seat to stand by her side and Isis looked at both of the still-sitting occupants of the room.

"Ryou, would you like to go with us?"

"Oh, no thank you. I don't have much of an appetite right now," Ryou answered politely, smiling.

"And how about you Malik?" Isis questioned.

"I'd rather not," Malik answered stiffly. Ryou looked at him sharply, and almost missed hearing Isis' goodbye as Malik currently occupied his attention. He said goodbye and then resumed the task of discreetly staring at Marik's brother.

His face and eyes were completely devoid of emotion, as was the tone of voice he had used when talking to his sister. Ryou didn't know Malik very well, but to him the other teen really didn't seem like the type to be so stone-faced and bland. And speaking of things not quite on the money, Isis had sounded very uncomfortable when she spoke with Malik, though she hid it well. Ryou, being a very quiet and reserved person himself, often exercised in the activity of people watching and so was able to read all of this fairly easily. He wondered if something had happened to cause the family to have such a tense and standoffish vibe surrounding them.

Ryou's soft brown eyes traveled slowly and inconspicuously back to the face of the other inhabitant of the hallway searching for more signs of something amiss. However, for all his skill at remaining incognito, Ryou soon forgot to be cautious and began openly staring at Malik. The teen looked so much like his twin brother, but there was just something about Malik that caused his breath to shorten and his heart to flutter. He didn't know what it was yet, but it was something that Marik did not have and probably never would, and Ryou would not rest until he found it...

"Is there a reason as to why you're staring at me?" Malik asked suddenly, bland tone dropped and now sounding annoyed.

"Eeep!" Ryou squeaked. His cheeks instantly burned red and he viciously tore his gaze away from Malik and stared at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. His long white hair fell around his shoulders and blocked his red cheeks, something Ryou was grateful for, as they had only grown redder now that the fact that he had actually squeaked the word "Eeep" registered in his mind. Oh god! Now Malik probably thought he was some kind of mouse, and he had actually been caught staring! Openly and blatantly staring! Not that it was his fault, Malik's bronzed skin just looked so soft, especially at the contour of his cheek and oh god he was still doing it! Ryou squeaked again and his blush increased tenfold.

Once his blush was under control and his heart no longer beating frantically against his ribcage, Ryou raised his head and looked back up at Malik. He smiled sheepishly. Malik still looked annoyed.

"Sorry. Umm, I-I... umm... I bet you're glad that your brother is okay!" Ryou exclaimed, cheeks reddening again because he hadn't been able to come up with something to say right away. His blush faded as he noticed Malik's annoyed expression grow sour until it was practically a snarl.

"Is something wrong?" Ryou questioned, concerned now.

"Do not mistake me for my brother," Malik replied scathingly. "I am not about to become friends with you or your brother and tell you all of my problems in a vain hope that you can somehow solve them. I don't need you or your friendship and am perfectly happy with hating the both of you." Ryou was startled into silence by his icy tone. It looked like he had touched on a nerve.

"Well... if you don't want to be friends then that's fine. And I won't try to make you tell me anything you don't want to. I'm just saying that if you do want to... you can," Ryou said, smiling. Malik just stared at him like he was crazy.

"I _loathe_ your brother. You do know this, right?" Malik asked slowly.

"Well, of course I would rather you not dislike him so strongly, but Bakura is hard to get along with. When we were younger he actually didn't like me very much, and I was always scared of him because he was so mean. After so many years of living with him I can understand his behaviors and personality a lot more now, but to everyone else he just seems mean. I'm sure there are a lot of people that don't like Bakura," Ryou chuckled softly. "Actually, I'd like it a lot more if he were similar to your bother. It seems like you and Marik love each other very much." Malik actually laughed here.

"Sometimes I wonder about that," He said darkly.

"I don't really know you very well, but I'm sure that you love Marik, and I know that he loves you. He cares a lot about you, I'm positive. I can tell from the way he talks about you," Ryou insisted softly. Here Malik looked directly at Ryou and the dark violet eyes of the teenager captured him. Ryou lost himself in their depths and for a moment forgot where he was and what he'd been saying. He would have stayed lost in those eyes for much longer but Malik was talking and Ryou broke away from his intense gaze and his cheeks flushed slightly.

"If he cares for me so much then why does he do so many things to piss me off?" Malik snarled, face contorting ferociously in such a fearsome way that it even scared Ryou.

"He might not be trying to anger you. I'm almost sure that he's not. He just... sometimes does things that you don't like. I think that Marik wants to do some of the things he wants to do, not just the things that you both want to do. He doesn't mean to upset you and I'm sure that he's sorry when he does. You just need to give him the chance to apologize and to accept him for who he is and forgive what he's done wrong," Ryou said softly, lost in memory for a moment.

"_What the hell do you want, you stupid brat?"_

"_..."_

"_What? Don't just stand there like an idiot!"_

"_P-please don't leave again. I... I don't want you to go..."_

"_Wh-what are you talking about? Why would you care anyway? You'd be happy if I was gone. So would mom and dad and everybody else! And do you know what? I'd be happy too! I don't need any of you!"_

"_No! Don't leave! Please! I-I love you! You're my brother!"_

"_Wh-what are you saying? Stop saying that!"_

"_No! I love you brother, and I don't care what mom and dad say! I don't care if you're bad! I love you!"_

"_Ryou..."_

Just as fast as the memory had come it was gone, leaving Ryou with a smile on his face. Yes, he knew all about forgiveness and accepting a person for their faults. He had done it all long ago and had continued to do it since then. Because when you really loved someone you forgave and accepted your whole life.

"Maybe," Malik said, less angry but still sounding unconvinced.

"Well, try it out. Maybe it will help," Ryou advised, smiling. The door to Marik's room opened up and Bakura stepped out. His brown eyes locked on to Malik and then Ryou, who was still smiling, immediately got the wrong idea, and his lips curled into a knowing smirk.

"Oh sod off!" Ryou exclaimed quickly. His cheeks had already turned bright red.

"Eh? I haven't said anything Ryou! No need for you to get your panties up in a bunch," Bakura teased. Ryou's cheeks grew redder and he pouted sullenly.

"Heheh, I only wanted to know if you would like to say hi to Marik before we leave," Bakura grinned. Ryou got up hurriedly and entered the room before Bakura could tease him anymore. He was so mean sometimes! Tch, like anything would really happen between him and Malik anyways, and in the middle of the hospital hall no less! Shoving Bakura temporarily out of his mind, Ryou entered the room and greeted Marik.

00000

After Bakura and Ryou left Marik was alone in the room for only a brief minute or two. He expected Isis and Rishid to enter, so he was very surprised when Malik did. He'd been told that Malik was the one who'd found him and got him to the hospital, but since he'd woken up Malik had been the only one not in to see him. Now that he had come Marik didn't know what to do.

"Malik..." He said lightly. His brother looked at him expectantly, and before he had a chance to leave like he had in school Marik jumped on the opportunity he had been granted to speak alone and in private with his twin.

"Malik don't go!" He said quickly. His brother quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I wasn't planning on it actually," He responded.

"Malik, I'm so sorry, you have to believe me. The thing you saw with Bakura... that was a mistake. I didn't mean for it to happen, especially not if you don't like it," Marik said quickly. He had planned what he would say to Malik from the moment the act that had angered him had occurred, but now all of that planning had flown out of his head. To be brutally honest with himself, he hadn't even expected to get this far.

"You sure didn't seem to think it was a mistake when it was happening." Malik said snidely.

"Maybe not then, but I wasn't thinking. I am now, and I know that it shouldn't have happened. It isn't right," Marik insisted. This little matter he had thought about almost as much as he had the problem with Malik. It was, after all, what had caused the problem with Malik. And in the end he had decided that even though he had been more than willing to continue on the couch, and when Bakura had entered his room his heart had sped just a bit, it was all wrong and should not continue. He was not gay, and Malik was far more important than Bakura anyways. Whatever had been happening with Bakura had to stop.

"Marik," Malik sighed, "I don't care. You can screw around with the idiot as much as you'd like. Do whatever it is that you want to do."

"What?" Marik asked, stunned. His brother, who had never once let him have anything without a fight, was now just allowing him to do whatever he liked with Bakura, who he hated?

"Maybe... I need to stop caring so much about what you do. It's not my place, especially not if you're going to be doing _that_ with him. So do whatever you want," Malik said again.

"Are you sure?" Marik asked in disbelief, still not quite positive that this was actually going the way it was. He half expected Malik to smirk that sinister grin of his and scold him for ever being stupid enough to believe such lies.

"I'm sure," He answered instead. Marik looked over the blank face of his twin. It wasn't blank in the same way as when he was angry, it was blank in... acceptance? Was this all true then? Did Malik really not care? He could find no deception in his brother's eyes, but he still doubted his words. Malik still cared, he was sure of it, but maybe what he was saying was that he wouldn't get angry about it anymore.

"Malik, you do know that I still care about you, right? I mean, you are my brother, and that means that I... love... you." The words felt strange coming from his mouth, unfamiliar because he really never used them. "No matter what happens with Bakura, I always will," He finished.

"I know that. I just forget sometimes," Malik commented. Then silence.

Both twins looked the other over, both thinking, and both aware that this was as close to an emotional understanding as they were going to get. Neither of them were comfortable with such emotions, so this was difficult for both of them. But both also knew that it was necessary, as necessary as they were to each other. Two that were actually one.

Isis and Rishid rescued them from silence when they returned from the café. Isis' concern at the two of them together alone was almost palpable at first, but then she noticed there was no tension between them and be some instinct she knew the crisis was over. She smiled and they conversed like normal until visiting hours were up. His siblings left and Marik fell easily into the embrace of comforting sleep.

* * *

Okay, so that was chapter eight! It was all pretty good I think (except for that I found the bit with Marik and Malik's big confrontation to be a bit lacking, but eh, maybe it's just me) and I was able to squeeze in some Deathshipping for all of you who've been wanting to see some! We also got a bit of insight to whatever it was that occurred in Egypt with Marik and Malik and there was a little with the past of Bakura and Ryou as well! I hope that's good then! Well I'll get started typing chapter nine right after my third chapter of _Deadly Ambivalence_ goes up! (Advertising!)


	9. To Be Or Not pt 1

Woot, hi people! Here we are with chapter nine! And as you may have noticed from the chapter of this title, this is part one! That means chapter ten will be part two! Yay! Heheh, I'm excited for some reason XD

**Disclaimer!:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did I certainly wouldn't be writing this!

* * *

_Knock!_

_Pang!_

_Bang! Smash!_

The last noise woke Marik from his sleep. He stirred and rubbed his eyes, yawning, then stepped out of his bed and shuffled to the window where the noise was coming from. Last night at the hospital he'd barely been able to sleep at all. The noises and comings and goings of the hospital staff kept him up all night and he was only now able to fully rest back here in his own room and bed. Unfortunately though, it didn't seem like that was going to happen after all. That last noise had sounded a lot like something breaking.

Marik hissed in pain as he stepped on something. He crouched down and felt the carpet in front of him for whatever it was he'd stepped on and cried out as he hurt himself again. He'd cut his finger. Growling to himself, he walked to his wall and turned on the light switch. After his eyes had adjusted to the light he immediately spotted what it was he'd stepped on. An empty glass he'd left on the windowsill had fallen to the ground and shattered.

"Stupid cheap glass," Marik mumbled. Now he would have to clean this mess up and put a band-aid on the scratches he'd gotten. He normally would have not even bothered with the band-aids and just left the mess to clean up in the morning, but his sleep had already been disrupted and he just knew that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. He got up to find a brush to help scoop the glass up when he heard another pang against his windowpane.

"Oh what the hell? I'm trying to sleep!" He exclaimed. He moved over to the window again, careful this time to avoid the glass, and opened it. He stuck his head out the window and was not entirely surprised to see Bakura out there. Of course. Who else would be throwing things at his window at –here Marik checked the clock sitting by his bed– 2:48 in the morning but a vampire?

"What do you want?" Marik asked boredly, stifling a yawn.

"Can I come in?" Bakura called up.

"Sure, whatever," Marik waved of, yawning again. Even in the dark he could see the way Bakura's eyes lit up and turned red, then within seconds Bakura had jumped up to his window and was directly in front of him. Marik stumbled backwards, startled, and ended up falling on his butt. Bakura climbed in and grinned at him, then offered him a hand up. Marik reluctantly took it.

"Jeez! You scared the crap out of me, you ass!" Marik reprimanded. Bakura just grinned away.

"Alright, what is it that you want? You know, just because _you're_ not necessarily asleep at this hour doesn't mean that other people aren't," Marik remarked sourly, just a tad bit annoyed about his disrupted sleep.

"Aw, you're not asleep! Come on, I've got something to show you," Bakura said. Marik stared.

"Did you somehow miss the fact that it's almost three in the morning? And you want me to go somewhere with you?" Marik deadpanned. Bakura nodded. Marik stared. Bakura looked at him eagerly. Marik looked at his bed. It called to him, beckoning him to delve back into the covers and snuggle up tightly. He looked at Bakura. The vampire's red eyes danced with excitement and urged him to hurry up and get ready. He sighed.

"Fine. Can I at least get changed? I'm still in my pajama," Marik said gesturing to the baggy pants and black tank top he wore. Bakura shook his head.

"That'll take too long. Come on, let's go!" He said, and before Marik could say anything more Bakura had grabbed him by his arm and yanked him tightly to his side. Marik looked at him questioningly, and in reply Bakura tightly clamped a hand over his mouth and picked him up, then promptly jumped out the window.

As the ground rushed up to meet them fear crashed over Marik like a tidal wave and he tried to yell. The hand over his mouth prevented him from doing just that and then before he knew it they were both on the ground and Bakura had let him go, though they were still standing right next to each other with hardly an inch separating them. Marik hurriedly jumped away, and then glared daggers at the other as he remembered to yell at him.

"What the heck was that? Why would you jump out the window? You could have killed me you idiot!" Marik whispered harshly, remembering to be quiet as the rest of his family was still sleeping.

"You're bleeding you know," Bakura said randomly. Marik opened his mouth, closed it, processed what Bakura had said, then opened his mouth again.

"That's your fault too! A glass fell off my windowsill because _you_ were throwing things. It broke and I cut my finger and foot on it!" He yelled, pausing as a thought struck him. The last time he'd been bleeding around the vampire it hadn't been a very good thing. He inspected Bakura closely, relieved to see that his eyes were still their normal fiery red color and not that dark, almost black crimson they became when bloodlust took a hold of him. Still... "Is that going to be a problem?"

"It shouldn't be," Bakura remarked carefully. "It smells delicious of course, but such a small amount is barely enough to stir my appetite. If for any reason I can't control myself, I'll let you know. Wouldn't want to eat my partner-in-crime, now would I?" Bakura smirked sinisterly and for some reason that caused Marik's cheeks to flush. He looked away, flustered and embarrassed by his strange behavior, at the same time recalling just how close he'd been to Bakura only a moment ago, and how the other had held him when they'd jumped out the window. His blush darkened and he cursed under his breath.

Marik's gaze flickered back to Bakura's he noticed the white haired teen begin to leave. Sighing (as well as wondering what in the world he was forsaking his sleep for), Marik followed Bakura. The two of them walked silently away from the Ishtar household.

The bright glow coming from the streetlights illuminated a mostly empty Domino city. A few cars passed by on the street, but no one was out walking like they were. It was early Sunday morning, so without a doubt most everyone was sleeping. Marik bothered Bakura to tell him where they were going, but the paler teen was deadly silent about that. Apparently it was going to be some kind of surprise. Eventually they turned down a side street and Bakura led him to a small grocery store.

"You do know that it's probably 3:30 by now, don't you? You can't get a drink or a bite to eat if the store is closed," Marik deadpanned.

"Just look in the window," Bakura said mysteriously. Marik rolled his eyes.

"I don't understand what could be so interesting... about..." As Marik peered into the window he saw one of mankind's most beautiful creations, a diamond in a landfill. There it was, one of the most gorgeous metallic monsters he'd ever laid eyes on. Inside the store on a raised platform surrounded by 24-packs of beer was a shiny new red motorcycle.

"See? Now isn't that worth getting out of your bike for? I was getting some hair product for Ryou when I saw it and thought it would be just perfect. I told you that we'd get you another bike," Bakura grinned. Maybe it was the mentioning of the strange task that has brought Bakura to this store, or just the sound of reality crashing down on him, but either way, Marik reluctantly tore himself away from the window and faced his companion.

"The store is locked Bakura, and even if it wasn't, we wouldn't have the key to start it," He said sourly.

"That's where you're wrong. Bakura, the Thief King, doesn't give up. And despite popular belief, I'm not as stupid as some seem to think I am." Bakura grinned away and pulled a silver key out of his pocket. He fit the key into the door and unlocked it, opening the door for Marik to step inside. Marik's jaw actually dropped open and he stared flabbergast at Bakura.

"Wha-? How did you?" Marik sputtered. Bakura grinned and ushered him inside. Then he thrust another key into Marik's open hand.

"That one's the key to the ignition. See, when I was here earlier I asked the manager about that bike there. There's some kind of contest going on, but who cares about any of that? Our manager buddy told me that he got to pick the winner and give them the bike. He had the key to it and everything. Even showed it to me. That was pretty stupid of him because I nabbed it from him the moment he wasn't paying attention. And then I saw that our good friend was also stupid enough to leave the store key lying on top of the register. So of course I took that one too. I figured it would come in handy. So am I good or what?" Bakura asked, still grinning.

"But if we do take it the manager will call the police in the morning and they'll find out it was us one way or another," Marik argued.

"You know, I really thought you would be more excited about this," Bakura commented idly. "Look, the cops will see that there wasn't a break in and they'll assume the manager took it. He's the one with the keys after all. And if they do figure out that he didn't take it, they won't be able to trace it back to us. This store is too small to have a camera installed in it, I looked. We'll be fine. Believe me, I've stolen tons of things and haven't gotten in trouble once."

Marik looked at the red motorcycle again. It was so beautiful. Not as much as his first baby, but it was close, and that made him want it all the more. He could just imagine driving it for the first time and all the fun it would be to tinker around with it and find out more about it. He wanted it to be his more than anything else he could think of at the moment, but he had promised not to steal anymore. And yes, it was beautiful, but there was no way he could ever get away with it, no matter how believable Bakura's word sounded.

"I'm sure you have, but how am I supposed to get it passed Isis? You don't think she would wonder how I got a brand new motorcycle?" Marik insisted.

"Just keep it at my house then until you come up with an explanation for it. And if you can't then it'll have to stay there. Ryou won't be too happy that I've stolen it, but what's he going to do other than complain about it? Give it back?" Bakura chuckled. To this Marik didn't have an argument. He knew that he shouldn't do it, but he wanted it so much... And if it would stay at Bakura's house...

"We good now? No more stalling?" Bakura smirked. He took Marik's silence as a sign of approval. "Good. Because I had better things to be doing at three in the morning too you know." With that said Bakura led him to one side of the motorcycle and he moved to the other. Both started pushing the newly liberated bike out of its small store prison.

The moment Marik put his hands on the cold metal his mind was instantly made up. He would take the bike and he would keep it at Bakura's house forever if he needed to. Because he really, really wanted it, despite his promise to Isis, and because Bakura was doing this solely for him. He had seen the bike and he had known that Marik would want it. He was doing this for him.

They rolled it out of the store and Bakura locked it back up tightly. That done, he watched Marik, who was staring with admiration at his new bike.

"Come on, let's go to my house now. You can drop the motorcycle off there and I'll walk you back to your house and you can get some sleep," Bakura said.

"Well we can't drive it. It's the middle of the night," Marik commented.

"So? Just try to be quiet," Bakura grinned fiendishly. Marik shrugged and decided he didn't care enough to tell Bakura that that sentence had been somewhat oxymoronic, and he hopped aboard the motorcycle, instantly relishing the feel of it beneath him. Bakura got on behind him and Marik put the key in the ignition, turned it on and revved it once before speeding off.

For about the first couple of minutes Marik's mind was only on his motorcycle. Every noise it made registered in his mind, every feel, every motion, all of the dials and numbers on it, the smoothness of the brakes and the acceleration. All the while he was waiting for the moment when he would really be able to take a good look at it and really inspect it. For those first few minutes only the motorcycle was on his mind, and that made it all easy. Then he began to notice other things, like the feel of Bakura's hot breath against his back and Bakura's arm around his wait and the way Bakura's thumb lazily caressed a patch of skin at his side through the fabric of his shirt. And that all made things not so easy.

He realized with some surprise just how hot Bakura's technically dead body could get and wondered how this could be. Every hot puff of air blown against his back sent shivers racing down his spine and his hands clenched ever tighter on the grip of the bike's handles. The arm tightly wrapped around his waist felt particularly nice and the thumb caressing his side sent minute shivers coursing through his body that apparently significantly impaired his ability to drive. Several times he had to remind himself to pay attention to the road and not Bakura's touch. Once it got so bad he veered halfway onto the sidewalk without noticing.

"What's wrong Marik? You seem distracted..." Bakura whispered in his ear. His low voice was gravelly and husky, and only a few centimeters away from his ear. That small gap was closed quickly enough though, and Marik's hand tightened again on his handles as he felt Bakura's soft lips graze against his earlobe, followed soon after by the feel of his hard, pointed teeth.

His heart began beating like crazy and it occurred to him that he could very easily be killed any moment. Those teeth could effortlessly inch away from his ear and move to his bare neck and pierce the skin there. But they didn't. Instead they continued to nibble gently on his ear, much in the same way Malik had done to him. However, when Malik had done it to him it made him feel strange and uncomfortable, but with Bakura it was different. It still felt strange, but in a much better way. He felt fluttery and nervous but he wanted it to continue, wanted Bakura to keep touching him, and now he couldn't help but wonder how it would it would feel to have Bakura's teeth nibbling like that on other parts of his body.

"Marik..." Bakura whispered seductively. He felt a brief wetness on his ear and he fathomed that Bakura had licked it.

"Y-yes?" Marik asked, voice unsteady and raspy. He felt Bakura lean closer to him, felt his hot body almost touch his own. A strand of Bakura's cool silver hair tickled his neck and shoulder.

"You just passed my house," Bakura said.

"Yeah... Wait, what?" Marik demanded, shooting forward and breaking away from the warm body leaning against him. His face burned steadily as he mentally berated himself for acting so spacey and out of it as he turned the bike around and drove it into Bakura's driveway.

He hopped off the bike with a huff, mortified by his behavior, and leaned the motorcycle on its kickstand. Bakura slid off it and opened the garage door and both of them wheeled the motorcycle in silently. At this point Marik wished a hole could just open up beneath his feet and swallow him whole. When he'd chanced a look at his companion he'd noticed him smiling wickedly. Damn sneaky vampire.

"Well, I suppose we should head to your house now Marik. That is, only if you think you can successfully take us there. If you aren't up to the task though you could always stay here. I'm sure Ryou wouldn't mind," Bakura remarked innocently, his red eyes telling a completely different story.

"No thanks, I'm sure I can make it. Actually, I can probably get back to my house without your assistance, so why don't you just stay here and save yourself the return trip?" Marik rebuked, annoyed.

"Silly Marik-chan! Don't you know there are dangerous thugs out there who could harm you? If I don't protect you, you could get hurt and then I would be in trouble too," Bakura grinned. Marik didn't bother to tell him anything else. Instead he just started walking. Bakura followed closely, and the two of the silently headed toward his house.

Marik remained silent the entire time, preferring not to say anything to get Bakura talking about what had transpired between them on the motorcycle. Even the silence was annoying; it allowed him to think about what had happened, and Bakura's telltale smirk was almost just as bad as if he had said anything. And that angered him even more because he couldn't figure it out. Why was Bakura doing this? Did he just enjoy fucking with him? And why was he responding in such a way to Bakura's strange actions?

"I don't like him damn it," Marik muttered quietly to himself.

"You say something, dear Marik?" Bakura asked, eyes gleaming with mirth.

"Nothing at all," Marik answered, and then they were quiet again as Marik silently fumed. He was being made fun of, he just knew it. Bakura was messing with him and enjoying every moment of it, and he was as good as sitting there and taking it. And why? Because for whatever reason, his brain turned to mush when he was around the other teen. It was all Bakura's fault anyways! Him and his damn touches! If he could just keep his hands to himself then Marik wouldn't have to go through all of these troublesome speculations about the nature of his sexuality and whether or not he did like Bakura in a more-than-friendly matter.

Sure, all of the signs pointed to him liking Bakura, but that couldn't be true! He wasn't gay! He liked women damn it, even if his brother and Bakura seemed to believe otherwise! It didn't matter if he noticed that Bakura was _incredibly_ hot and if that devious, stupid, sexy smirk of his did make his stomach do flip-flops. It didn't matter if he enjoyed Bakura's company a lot more than he probably should, given that the other was a vicious bloodsucker and that despite his knowledge of that fact, he still felt comfortable in letting his guard down. And it certainly didn't matter if somewhere deep, deep down inside of him he secretly wished Bakura would touch him again and press their bodies flush against one another so he could feel that delicious heat between them again. Nope, none of that matter because he, Marik Ishtar, was _not_ gay and _did not_ like-

"Oh look. We're here," Bakura remarked thoughtlessly, interrupting Marik's inner turmoil in the most random of ways. Marik looked up, noticed they were indeed in front of his house, and unclenched the fist he hadn't even realized he'd made.

"So we are," He responded dryly. He turned to Bakura and was at once startled but how bright his eyes were and how they seemed to glow in the dark. He hadn't noticed it while they'd been walking in the street because of the lights, but now in the dark woods outside of his house he saw how clearly those bloody orbs stood out in the dark and started at him, urging him to do... something. They mesmerized him and mouth went dry.

"You're bleeding again Marik," Bakura said, voice lowering once more as his eyes glowed ever brighter. With much effort, Marik tore himself away from the other and looked down at his cut finger, which he had opened up again and was indeed bleeding. A bead of crimson was forming at the bottom of the cut, ready any moment now to drip down.

When Marik looked back up again Bakura was only a few inches away from him, and Marik's heart thumped erratically. He made to take a step back, but Bakura took a hold of his hand and held him still. He looked at him silently with his red, red eyes, and although Marik had a notion of what was going to happen next, he didn't pull away. Instead he watched as Bakura raised his hand to his lips and took the injured finger into his mouth.

A hot blush instantly made its way into Marik's cheeks as his mind filled with wickedly dirty images brought on by the hot, moist caverns of Bakura's mouth and the feel of his tongue swirling around the cut, sucking away all the blood that was offered to him. But these thoughts were banished and pushed away as soon as they'd come to make way for others as Marik watched with morbid curiosity the way Bakura's eyes changed color. The last time Bakura had fed off his blood his eyes had darkened to an almost black color, and that had almost scared him. They darkened now too, but not enough to become black, only enough to change to a deeper crimson.

Just as Marik was noticing this Bakura's eyes slowly slipped close as he savored the taste. The expression on his face was of the very essence of sinful ecstasy as he tried to coax more blood from the cut with his skillful tongue. Nothing else appeared to matter to Bakura in this moment, he was solely concentrated on the task at hand, and it occurred to Marik that this was the most vulnerable he'd ever seen the vampire. Someone could at this very moment be creeping up with a weapon in his or her hands to use on him, and Bakura would have been none the wiser. He wondered if this happened to all vampires when they fed and he wondered if his family or any other hunters knew. Vampires were hard to kill, but if this weakness of theirs were to become public knowledge and exploited, it would make the task so much easier.

A third question entered his head, brought on by the trail of thoughts the second question had inspired, and he wondered with something skin to worry if _Bakura_ knew how vulnerable he was when he fed. But no, that was stupid and Marik dismissed it. After living for six hundred years of course he would know about his weaknesses. The real question was why he had chosen to reveal this fatal weakness to Marik, despite knowing what he was.

This question was stored aside with others that would require some thought. He would deal with them all later, for now he wanted to observe this rare moment before him. A vampire revealing his weaknesses to the very person whose job it was to kill him, and a hunter allowing a vampire to willingly feed from his blood. Marik chuckled softly at the irony of the whole situation, and just like that it all ended as Bakura pulled away and Marik's digit was returned to him.

"Do I really taste that good?" Marik asked, a soft smile playing across his lips.

"You have no idea," Bakura remarked a bit dazedly. His eyes, usually so rapt and aware, were glossed over and dreamy. His liquid fire locked with Marik's lilac and he became a bit more awake as his lips formed a half-smirk. "Wanna try it?"

Before Marik could respond Bakura crushed their mouths together, taking advantage of his surprise to force his tongue into Marik's mouth. He tasted the almost familiar taste of Bakura along with the coppery taste of his own blood, nauseating to him, but apparently irresistible to the vampire. Said vampire pushed Marik against a nearby tree and pressed their bodies flush against one another while their tongues followed instinct and battled with one another. Bakura's eyes stared at him, so intense they seemed to stare _into_ him, and at once Marik realized that he loved to see those deep orbs as a fiery red much more than he did seeing the dull brown color they usually were. There was always so much raw emotion in them, so much the brown color just couldn't show. Even though brown was the natural color of his eyes, to Marik it seemed like the fake one.

He felt one of Bakura's legs come to rest between his own, allowing himself to adhere his body even closer to Marik's. The bark of the tree was rough and cold, but Bakura's body was warm and Marik placed his hands on Bakura's shoulders, forcing him even closer. He wanted that warmth and he wanted to feel the other's touch. Almost as if he'd heard his wishes, once of Bakura's hands slid under his shirt, each one of his cold fingers leaving hot trails behind on his skin as they ran up and down his abdomen and chest.

He moaned at the sensation, relishing the feel of those fingers, and Bakura broke away from the kiss. Marik saw the deep red of his eyes quickly before Bakura's head was bowed and suddenly the other's lips and tongue were now attacking his neck. He panted, out of breath from their kiss, while Bakura lightly bit as his neck and collarbone, licking the places he bit and trailing wet kisses up and down the length of skin revealed to him. His once hand continued to stroke the skin under his shirt, and Marik hissed in pleasure as a cold finger brushed teasingly over his nipple.

He moaned once more and rested his head against the trunk of the tree, allowing Bakura more access to his neck, while his eyes slowly closed in bliss. He could still taste the coppery traces of his own blood in his mouth, but even that wasn't so bad anymore. It all felt so _good_, and Marik wondered how he had gone his whole life without feeling this way before. And he didn't care at all anymore what anyone thought or even what he thought, because anything that felt like this _had_ to be good, and he didn't ever want Bakura to stop.

_Oh ho ho, what Malik would say if he saw _this_ little display? Or even heard it. Do you even realize what you're doing Marik? What you sound like? The kind of person you must _seem_ like, allowing him to touch you like that, right outside of your house too?_

Those few sentences of thought invaded the hazy bliss surrounding Marik's mind. He opened his eyes and saw Bakura's arctic white made of hair in front of him and felt that somehow the hand that before had only been brushing teasingly over his nipple was now squeezing it, creating a pleasurable jolt of pain that he somehow must have missed before. He looked over at his house and saw the dark windows. Then he recalled the noises he'd been making only a moment ago, and with that he shifted to the left and tore away from Bakura.

"I-um... I... I-I should probably get back to me house now and um... you know, sleep. Yeah," Marik babbled quickly, purposely looking at the still-dark sky over Bakura's head and not his alluring red eyes.

For a moment there was silence and Bakura said nothing, then, "Of course. That's probably a good idea." Marik chanced a brief look at him and saw that Bakura was avoiding eye contact as well, and while he hadn't sounded nearly as uncomfortable as Marik had, there was definitely something there. Feeling his eyes on him, Bakura looked at him and Marik quickly looked away again, then both walked swiftly and quietly to Marik's house.

"Can I come in?" Bakura asked.

"Sure," Marik responded quickly, not bothering to ask _why_ Bakura would need to come in in his hurry to get back to his bed and away from the other. He found out soon enough though as Bakura scooped him up into his arms and jumped up to Marik's window and climbed into his room. He let Marik go, who hurriedly scuttled away to what he deemed was a safe distance from the other.

"Um... so yeah, thanks and all, and I guess I'll see you on Monday," Marik said.

"Yeah, guess so. See ya," Bakura replied, and then he was gone. Marik walked to his window and peered out it, eyes settling quickly on Bakura's pale form, and he watched as the vampire ran away from his house, more of a blur than a definite figure because of his speed. He stayed on the path Marik had marked out for him to make sure he wouldn't run into any of their traps, and then he was gone. Marik walked to his bed and lied on it, pulling the blankets up around himself.

He was confused again, but that seemed to be a regular occurrence for him when he hung out with Bakura. How did he get himself into such messes? How had he allowed Bakura to turn him into such a dirty, wanton thing? He had been acting as if he really were a slut back there with the way he'd allowed Bakura to touch him and bite him like that, and then there were the noises he'd made! He couldn't comprehend how he'd allowed himself to act in such a degrading way, yet even as he thought this he could still fell those touches and some part of him wanted them back. To make matters worse, Marik noticed something he hadn't before with all the thoughts cluttering his head: he really needed a cold shower.

Seeing as that idea was out of the question unless he wanted to wake up the rest of his family, Marik tired unsuccessfully to get back to sleep. That didn't work very well, and the sun was already streaming into his room before he fell asleep again. He dreamt of sultry, lustful red eyes and silky white hair and a warm, pale body entwined with his own that was biting him with long, ivory fangs in such a way that made his scream in ecstasy, and when Marik woke up again, drenched in sweat, he was in much the same condition he had gone to sleep in.

Later that day Malik remarked about the peculiar marks on his neck, and with horror Marik realized that Bakura had actually left bruises on his neck from where he'd bitten him. For the entire day his siblings laughed at his expanse and his attempts to hide the marks (even the usually stone-faced Rishid), and Isis and Malik tried to pull the name of the person who'd done it out of him. Marik firmly stood his ground and made not a peep or otherwise, but from the gleam he saw in Malik's calculating eyes, he had already guessed correctly anyways.

00000

Bakura slipped into his and Ryou's house easily enough, picking the lock to the door with ease. (Why bother taking a key when it was so much more fun to do it this way, he figured) He checked on Ryou, something he'd done when they'd been alive and had continued to do now, even though it didn't really matter too much anymore, then went back down the stairs and turned the TV in the living room on quietly. Only reruns of old shows would be on at this hour, but that was fine because he wasn't really watching the television anyways.

At this moment he would usually take the time to gloat a bit on how far he'd gotten with Marik. The other teen wanted him, that much was apparent. He hadn't realized that yet, but it was all okay because these things took time. Soon enough though he would have the blonde on his back screaming his name. Unfortunately, Bakura was not thinking upon this aspect and gloating, instead, he felt very befuddled.

There was something different about Marik, something strange. He still wanted the other teen, but instead of just taking what he wanted he felt perfectly okay with waiting for it. It was completely different from any other relationship he'd been in (if they could in all actuality be called that), and that was what was so confusing about it all. Then there was also the way he'd acted that day in the hospital, how angry he'd gotten with the people who'd hurt Marik.

"Damn it! I _do not_ like him! He's hot, that's it!" Bakura swore quietly. This was all Ryou's fault, he just knew it. If the other were able to just leave him alone and let him do things the way he wanted, then by now he could have been done with Marik. But no, his pesky younger brother just had to butt into his affairs, and now he was being forced to think about things and examine the nature of his relationship with the Egyptian teen. Now he was being forced to wonder if there could somehow be some feelings _other_ than those of lust that were motivating him and if it could possibly true that he, the great Bakura, could actually fall so low as to _like_ someone. That was _not_ the way things were supposed to go. People liked him, not the other way around.

"Damn him," Bakura swore again, and this time he didn't know whom that one was for. Marik for being so damn irresistible, or Ryou for being such a pain in his ass.

00000

He knew the moment he woke up for school on Monday that it was going to be a crappy day. The morning started with Ryou asking him if he'd gone to see Marik again during he night. Somehow his annoying brother had found out about that (the motorcycle in he garage could have been a giveaway, but never mind that), and all of yesterday he had pestered Bakura to tell him what they'd done. He refused to of course, but Ryou just wouldn't give up. All of yesterday he had pestered him about it, and it appeared as if today's course would meander down the same path.

The overall crappiness of the day got worse when he saw Marik. He'd known that it would be awkward, what with the way the night before had gone, but on some vain level of naivety he had hoped that perhaps it wouldn't, or maybe Marik wouldn't have gone to school today. But no, he did, and the moment they locked eyes Bakura could already feel himself grow uncomfortable. He felt embarrassment, an uncommon emotion for him, and he began hoping that Marik wouldn't bring the subject of the night up at all. Fortunately, two unsuspecting students saved him from having that conversation. Unfortunately, he recognized them as being the two who'd picked on Ryou and hurt Marik.

They walked past Marik, completely unaware of him, sniggering to each other about some joke. Bakura felt his blood boil and his eyes go red. His fangs slowly descended from his gum line, and a deep, throaty growl emanated from his throat. Before he could stop himself he had walked past Marik too and stood behind the two students. He could see Ryou clearly in his mind, cowering by a wall as the two cornered him, too afraid of hurting them to use his strength to defend himself. Then he saw Marik, beautiful Marik, lying bloody and unconscious on the ground, then sitting in a hospital bed, pouting because of the wound on his head.

He walked up to the two of them and tapped both of them on their shoulders. They turned. He smiled. "Hello."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" One of them said. The other grinned and cracked his knuckles. Bakura's smile widened.

"Really? What a shame, I figured you would know me. You seem to know my brother quite well, and I believe we've had a talk about that before. Apparently neither of you cared enough for your own lives to listen to it though, because you both were the cause of my friend over there being hospitalized the other day," He said. The taller one, a hulking, bulky student with short black hair, looked over Bakura's shoulder to the spot where Marik must have still been standing.

"Yeah, I think I remember him alright. He tried messing with us. We had to teach him a lesson is all. Can't say I remember you though," The taller one chuckled. He elbowed his buddy, but the other student wasn't paying attention.

"Too bad. Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson as well. Not to touch what is mine," Bakura growled. The taller student laughed again. Now his companion, who was looking a tad less cocky, now than he had been before, elbowed him.

"Hey man, maybe we should go. There's something wrong with him man. Look at his eyes," He said. Before the taller student could either take a look or get another word in, Bakura punched him in the face. His blood was boiling now, and as the other student tried to make a run for it he attacked him too. The first one staggered forward, holding a hand up to his nose, and he threw a punch at Bakura, but the vampire quickly dodged it and got behind his prey in a matter of seconds. The tall student looked around, trying to pinpoint his location, and then Bakura was on him once more, punching him and hitting him and clawing him and scratching at him.

He heard the other student creep up behind him and he spun around and kicked him in his face before turning back to the other. He was completely on the offense now, no longer worrying about getting hit himself because he was moving too fast, much too fast for a human's eyes to keep up with. He no longer felt like just teaching the two humans a lesson but wanted to kill them both for what they had done. They had hurt Marik and that was inexcusable. Marik was _his_. _No one_ was allowed to touch him.

When they started to bleed Bakura only became more excited, more intoxicated from just the smell of it. He wasn't allowed to drink form them and he wouldn't, but that didn't mean he wouldn't kill them for what they'd done. They had both hurt Marik, they had touched what was his, and by doing that they had _defied_ him. They needed to be punished for that, and the verdict was death. So he grew excited by the smells of their blood, and he laughed to himself and kept hitting them, even as they both passed out into unconsciousness.

This time it wasn't Ryou who stopped him when he lost control. It was Marik. For a moment, caught up in his craze and bloodlust, he had forgotten that the blonde was still there. Until he latched onto his clenched hand and Bakura was forced to face his hard amethyst glare.

"Bakura! Stop it now!" Marik yelled. Bakura released the student, more out of surprise than any mercy he felt or for a need to obey Marik's command. The bruised body crumpled to the ground and Marik yanked him away and started running until they were off the school grounds. There he stopped and dropped Bakura's hand as if it were burning and glared at him once more.

"What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?" Marik screeched.

"They deserved it! They hurt you," Bakura defended, crossing his arms across his chest.

"That doesn't matter! Maybe they deserved some of it, but you almost killed them! It looked like you would have if I hadn't stopped you! Why would you do that? You can't just go around attacking people like that! And you didn't even bother to hide yourself and act human! Damn it Bakura, what if they tell someone? And what if that information somehow gets out to my siblings? Why would you do something like that?" Marik yelled. His eyes burned angrily and one of his fists actually shook.

"I did it because they hurt you! They deserve it! They deserved everything they got and more! I should have killed them for hurting you!" Bakura yelled back, his anger exploding once more. His eyes shone red and he bared his fangs as he roared.

"It doesn't matter if they hurt me or not! You can't go around doing things like that Bakura!" Marik shouted loudly.

"It does matter because they hurt you and you are mine!" Bakura roared, his own fists clenching. He expected a quick retort from Marik right away, so when his anger had faded once more and his fist clenched he looked at Marik. The blonde teen no longer looked as furious as he had before, now he appeared shell-shocked. And then the full effect of what he had blurted out came down on him and Bakura fell silent as well.

He hadn't meant to say it. He hadn't meant to even _think it_. He had said... that Marik was his... If his heart could still beat, it would have exploded in his chest. As it was, with the scent of fresh blood filling his nostrils, he could almost feel its phantom beat. A cold feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach, and he took an involuntary step backwards. His movement broke Marik's silence, and the other teen's eyes widened as he brought a tan hand with a cut on the index finger up to reach for him.

"Ah-Bakura..." He turned and ran. Bakura, who had always faced every challenge head on and with unwavering stubbornness, turned away and ran. He could hear Ryou's voice echoing in his head, telling him things he didn't want to know. He could still feel the dull throb of anger toward the two students pounding at his skull, but that anger had nothing to do with those two had treated Ryou, but how they had treated Marik. And he didn't like that. It scared him. It scared him because it meant that Ryou was right, and he was beginning to feel things for this human that he didn't want to feel. So he ran.

00000

Marik stood with his hand outstretched, stunned. His head lowered slowly and he stood there, blankly staring at the spot that had once been occupied by Bakura. The vampire was long gone, but he still remained in the same spot as before, Bakura angry words playing over and over again in his head.

"_It does matter because they hurt you and you are mine!"_

Bakura... What had he meant by that? What could he mean by saying that he was Bakura's? And why had he gotten so angry? He had practically killed those students. And his eyes... For the first time, Marik had seen Bakura for the monster he really was. He had seen all the hate and fury in his red eyes, and there had been no trace of anything human in them. It had been frightful. Why had Bakura acted like that?

_It's because he likes you, you moron._

The thought came so suddenly and with such force that Marik actually took a step back. He rejected the possibility of it possessing even an ounce of truth immediately. Bakura _did not_ like him. It was impossible.

_Then why would he kiss you? Why would he be so angry with those guys? Why would he fight them if it weren't for you?_

_No!_ Marik thought, clenching his hand, his eyes hardening. _No, it's impossible! He doesn't like me! He fought them before because he's my friend and that's what friends do! And anything else that he says or does is because he's fooling around! He does not like me and I do not like him!_

And with that final thought Marik stormed back to the school. By this time the beaten students had been noticed and taken to the hospital. Gossip was already flying wildly through the school, going from group to group, but no one seemed to have an inkling of what had really happened. Still, Marik paid attention to everything he heard, trying to find out if there was any way Bakura could get in trouble. There didn't seem to be, but the real test would be what the two students would say when they woke up. But he would cross that bridge when he came to it, and until then he concentrated on keeping Bakura out of his thoughts. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

00000

For the next two days Bakura didn't go to school. At first, Marik thought he was laying low until the two students woke up, but when they did on the afternoon of the first day, he still didn't show. The two students had babbled on about a demon with inhumane speed and sharp claws and fangs and blood red eyes. The good thing was that no one believed them. The bad thing was that Bakura still hadn't shown up. He saw Ryou a couple of times during school and thought about asking him where his brother was, but whenever he tried to ask the younger twin, he disappeared into the perpetual crowd of students. Luckily for Marik (or unluckily, depending on how you saw it), Ryou came to visit him soon enough.

Marik was just finishing his homework when the doorbell rang. He ignored it, opting not to get off his comfortable bed just to open the door. When the bell rang again Marik ignored it once more. He only got off the bed when it rang a third time and it had became apparent that no one else was getting it. He hopped out of his bed, grumbling to himself, and opened the door to one of the white-haired twins.

"Bakura!" Marik called out, stunned. It had been two days since he'd seen the vampire and the last place he'd been expecting to see him was at his front door.

"Sorry to disappoint, but you've got the wrong person Marik. It's Ryou," The white-haired teen explained, smiling sweetly. As Marik took a closer look he realized that this as indeed Ryou and hot his brother. The two looked so similar that even up close they were easily mistaken. Especially when it was the other brother that was on his mind.

"Sorry about that. The two of you look so similar to each other that I must have mistaken you," Marik laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, it happens all the time so it's not trouble. Can I come in? It's rather important," Ryou said.

"Sure, sure," Marik said. He opened the door and gestured to Ryou. The teen went into the room and took off his shoes, then followed Marik upstairs into his room. For a moment Marik reflected on the fact that this was the first time Ryou had ever been in his house as well as the first time he'd ever hung around him. Usually he only saw Ryou when he was at school or with Bakura.

"So Ryou, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Marik joked. He moved his books and things off his bed, allowing Ryou to sit on it, but instead the other teen declined and sat at the desk across from the bed. Marik shrugged and took he seat at the bed instead, only reflecting for a moment on how different he was from Bakura.

"Well it's about Bakura of course. But you're smart, so I'm sure you had already guessed that much Marik. Can you tell me though how he's been acting these past few days?" Ryou inquired. Marik frowned. Some part of him had thought that maybe this would be about Bakura, but how was he supposed to explain everything to Ryou when he was just as unsure?

"I can't tell you much, because I haven't seen him for the past two days, but up until he left school he was perfectly fine. It probably had something to do with those students that put me in the hospital though. When Bakura visited me in my room he got really angry, then he did when he saw them at school too. After that he just left," Marik explained, thoughtfully leaving out the part where Bakura actually beat them up. Ryou noticed that of course.

"I need everything Marik. Bakura already told me what he did to those two, he just didn't tell me why. And even if he hadn't, I could have pieced together that information," Ryou said smile, but in such a way now that Marik felt stupid for even thinking that Ryou wouldn't have known.

"Oh, okay! Heheh, sorry. Well obviously you know then that Bakura is the one who attacked them. I saw him do it. He just got so angry when he saw them, and then before I knew it he was on them and there was nothing I could do. He was furious. He looked almost inhuman. I'm sure you heard what those students said about it, that a demon attacked them. That's probably the best comparison. He was just so enraged... Honestly, I think he would have killed them if I hadn't stopped them. After that I yelled at him and he yelled back and said they deserved it because of what they'd done to me. Then he just left. That's all I know. I don't know why, or if I said anything, or if he just left because he wanted to," Marik explained, hoping that Ryou wouldn't be able to tell that wasn't the whole truth either. He thought that Bakura had left because of the last thing he's said, but he didn't want to tell that to Ryou. If Bakura hadn't then perhaps he didn't want his brother to know.

Ryou was silent for a moment as he contemplated what Marik had said. Marik sat quietly, watching Ryou. Both he and Bakura were over six hundred years old, but in many ways Bakura acted like he were still just a teenager. Ryou on the other hand seemed much more wise and thoughtful, like he'd learned some new secret of life's from every year of his own extended life. Marik felt something akin to uneasiness around him, the same kind of feeling one experience when they knew they were in the presence of a powerful older person. And technically that was exactly what Ryou was, even if he wore the appearance of a regular teenager.

"Well that proves it then. All right Marik, I need to ask you an important question, and I need you to tell me the absolute truth. Do you like Bakura? More than a friend?" Ryou asked abruptly. Marik sputtered, having expected something profound but certainly not this.

"What? Ryou, you can't possibly mean... -me? I don't-no , Ryou, I don't I mean... No! Of course I don't! I'm not gay!" Marik answered, still sputtering.

"It's okay to admit it Marik," Ryou said softly, stopping his excuses for the moment. "I know it's hard to come to terms with, but it's something you'll have to deal with. Bakura and I went through the same thing when we realized we were both gay. You'll know it if you are, you just need to look for it. I'd like for you to have the time to do that, but I need to know this information so I can help Bakura. So please Marik, I know it might be hard to say, but I need to know if it's possible that you could like Bakura."

Marik was the one to fall into silence now as he thought about what Ryou said. Hadn't he been asking himself the same question recently? And he hadn't been able to answer it. He didn't want to like Bakura, but then he did things like kiss him...

"I... I don't know Ryou. I do like your brother, but I don't know how I like him. I know that he's my friend and that I like him as my friend and want to hang out with him and be around him, but I don't know if I like him any more than that. Maybe I do... but I don't know," Marik admitted.

"Well that's alright. I wouldn't expect you to know for sure. You see, Bakura likes you. That's why he left. He's afraid. Bakura has been in many relationships before, but they've only been based on... purely physical activities. He's never felt emotionally attached to anyone before, and that's what he can't understand. He just realized t himself finally, and so he left," Ryou explained.

"Bakura likes me?" Marik asked, disbelieving this information. Sure, it was always Bakura who had initiated the kissing and touching and things like that, but it was still a surprise to think that there was any way he could possibly like him. It didn't make any sense. He'd figured that if Bakura had swung that way, he'd only be interested in the type of casual relationship Ryou had described. He almost couldn't believe him feeling anything other than that.

"I know, it's a surprise isn't it? But I think it's cute!" Ryou squealed.

"'Cute...?'" Marik echoed, still in a state of disbelief over the matter. He just couldn't wrap his mind over the fact that it could be possible that Bakura could like him. And cute was certainly not a word he would ever pick to attribute to Bakura.

"Yep! It's adorable! I've been waiting for such a long time for him to finally find someone to fall in love and live happily with! Aw, I'm so happy and excited now for you two!" Ryou carried on happily, not noticing the way Marik paled at the word "love."

"'L-love...?'" He squeaked weakly. "Ryou, don't you think that's a bit sudden? I mean, shouldn't I... shouldn't I at least talk to your brother first...?"

"Oh I'm sorry Marik! Of course it's not that serious, I just get carried away sometimes," Ryou apologized. Then his smile faltered for a moment and took on a more somber tone when it reappeared. "I would like for you to talk to my brother too, but he's not at the house. He left. I know where he went of course, and I'll tell you, but I think I want you to sort your own feelings out first. I don't want to put any pressure on you or make you change what you say. Before you talk to Bakura you need to figure things out yourself." Ryou smiled sullenly at him, and just as Marik opened his mouth to ask why Bakura had left, the door to his room opened and Malik poked his spiky head into his room.

"Where's your Math book?" He asked. Marik pointed to its spot on his bed, not trusting himself to speak, and Malik walked into the room and picked it up.

"Hello Malik!" Ryou greeted cheerfully. Malik's purple eyes focused on the arctic-haired twin briefly, and he grunted. It really wasn't a greeting back, but it was still a response, and for that reason Marik stared at his brother. Malik was never nice to anyone, yet here he was being half civil towards Ryou. Something must have happened between them.

"Did you follow my advice then Malik?" Ryou asked. That just made Marik all the more curious as to what must have gone on between them.

"What's it to you if I did or not? And brother, this is none of your business, so don't bother asking about it," Malik said, and then he had taken the Math book and left.

"He actually does his homework then? Funny, but he doesn't seem like the type who would. I know Bakura usually doesn't. He just complains that he knows it all already so there's no use," Ryou chuckled.

"Oh, well Malik only does it because otherwise Isis will throw a fit. But Ryou, what was it that you were talking about? When did you give advice to my brother?" Marik asked. Ryou laughed again softly and hopped to his feet. He smiled and put a finger up to his lips.

"It's a secret!" He exclaimed, then headed to the door. "Well I'm sure you've got a lot to think about, so I'll be going now to let you have some time to yourself! Bye Marik! Glad we had this talk! See you tomorrow at school!" And then he was gone, leaving Marik feeling very confused about how much and how little he had learned in the past hour.

* * *

Yay, that was chapter nine! I know the ending was a little abrupt there, but if I kept going there wouldn't have been a good spot to end the chapter. So, it's a bit abrupt, but all's well. Chapter ten will start right from where this one left off. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and remember to review!


	10. To Be Or Not pt 2

Here it is! Finally! After much waiting, here is the second part to chapter nine. Ugh, I am soo sick of this chapter right now, it's not even funny. I've been working on this monster all day trying to get it up here because it's already taken so long as it is. Well, this should have been out a lot sooner, but I've been very busy, so what can you do? It's my last year of high school so I just finished up deciding what college to go to, and I'm in the middle of taking exams for the AP classes I'm in. All very, very time consuming. But alas, here it is, so enjoy. Oh, and by the way, if there are mistakes in the chapter, I only proofread it once, and at the moment I kind of don't care to do it again. Like I said, I've been working on this ALL DAY! Gah! I'm sick of it! So if you find anything, let me know and I'll fix it later.

**Disclaimer:** Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh. She only owns the fanfiction plot. Oh, and Natalie and her mom, but they're only really here for plot purposes, so meh.

**EDIT ****(4-2-11): **Hiya peeps. All right, hardly important at all, but I changed Isabelle's name to Natalie. Why? Because I realized it was too similar to Bella's from Twilight, and just... no. If you like the books, fine by me. Personally, I loathe them with all of my existence XD But that's just me. So, if you see a random Isabelle interspersed with the Natalie's, don't be confused. I just obviously missed changing that one.

* * *

After Ryou left Marik did not immediately leave his room to try and pry into Malik's affairs to figure out what had happened between him and Ryou. Instead, he sat there for a while, still in half a state of shock over what had happened. Even though Ryou had told him that Bakura liked him and his actions proved as much, it was still hard to believe it was possible. Because of how he'd been back in Egypt, all of the good girls had stayed away from him and his brother, leaving only the rotten ones neither twin much wanted to deal with, There really hadn't been a great number of girls who liked him, much less any men, and now that one did it came as quite a shock…

"Wait a minute! Ryou said that both he and Bakura were gay!" Marik exclaimed, startled out of his stupor by this fact. Of course he had heard Ryou say this, but up until this moment he hadn't fully realized it. He's always expected Bakura to be bi if he did like men. And Ryou hadn't shown any inclination as all to preferring members of his own sex. The girls at school sure would be upset if they figured that out.

Marik stood up, shook his head to clear the last lingering effects of shock from his mind, and decided now would be a good time to go bug Malik. He left his room and headed towards Malik's, then paused in the doorway as he saw that Ryou had, in fact, not left, but was standing above Malik's chair and pointing to a problem on his paper. Malik was sitting at his desk, hunched over what was probably his math homework, and Ryou looked like he was helping him with it. Neither of them had heard him come in apparently, so Marik stood there silently, wondering why Malik hadn't bitten Ryou's head off yet. Something had obviously gone on between the two of them.

Before Marik could find out what however, Isis came bursting into the room, causing all three inhabitants to look up at her. She immediately began to talk, then quickly stopped as her blue eyes fell on Ryou.

"Oh, I didn't realize anyone was over. I'm sorry, but I need to ask you to leave. I have to talk to my brothers about some very important matters. Sorry," Isis apologized briskly. Ryou smiled and straightened, leaving Malik's side to head to the door.

"That's fine. I was just about to leave now anyways. I hope everything is okay. Marik, Malik, I'll see you both later. Bye," Ryou said. Isis waited until she was sure he had left, then the moment she heard the front door shut she eyed both twins critically. For the time being Marik shoved all other thoughts from his head and concentrated on his sister. For her to just make Ryou leave like that, it must be something of dire importance she needed to tell them.

"That was a close one. I hadn't realized anyone was over. I almost just blurted it out. Next time I'll have to be more careful," Isis mumbled, more to herself than to either of them. Then one more her eyes focused on them and she began to speak. "We have a job to do. All of us. Today we're going to prepare everything that we need and then tomorrow we'll actually leave. I'll call the school and come up with some reason for why the two of you won't be there if we need to. It's the weekend now, so we should be fine, but just in case I'll think of something. It's not far away, so if we're lucky we'll only be gone for about two days."

"Wait, what's going on Isis?" Marik asked, not understanding exactly what his sister was talking about.

"Rishid found a next of vampires, Marik. We're going to take care of them," Isis explained patiently. Upon hearing the word "vampire" an irrational fear seized Marik's heart as his thoughts flew to Bakura and Ryou. A moment later he realized that was foolish, because Isis has said a nest of vampires, and that term applied to at least four or so. And if she had been talking about the arctic-haired twins, she wouldn't have let Ryou leave just like that. Still, the fear, however irrational Marik knew it to be, was still there and he couldn't seem to shake it.

"Why wait until tomorrow to go? Why not go now? I mean, it's been a while since we've gone on a job, and I'm ready if everyone else is," Malik said, grinning, his mouth stretched back into the eerie look he wore that made him appear like a deranged mental escapee. Marik felt a shiver run down his back, and although he hoped they wouldn't go tonight he kept his mouth closed.

"It would be best to go today, but only if we were ready, and we aren't. If we did go now it would be suicide. We'll spend today getting ready. Rishid is out preparing right now and I want you two to do the same thing. What we know right now is that there are about six or seven vampires in the next town over and that they've been there for about five years now. Over the past five years the trickle of killings has been increasing, probably because the number of vampires in the nest has been increasing. Now while most of the townspeople have turned up dead, a few haven't turned up at all. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing if the increase of vampires is because these people have been turned or because more vampires have entered the nest. Let's hope for the first option," Isis said.

"I wouldn't mind either way really," Malik remarked cheerfully.

"Malik, this isn't some kind of trip we're going on for fun here! Every time we go out on a job one of us could die. I'd rather the two of you not go, but it's a larger number so Rishid and I will need all the help we can get. You need to be serious about this! If there's a leader who turned all the others it will be easier to kill them. Marik, can you explain to your brother why this is?" Isis reprimanded, pausing as she gestured to Marik for the answer.

"If we kill the leader we will kill all of the vampires he has created," Marik explained. His stomach rolled with the new topic of discussion as his thoughts invariably strayed to the two vampires he considered his friends. Bakura had been the one to turn Ryou. Now, if Bakura were killed, his death would also bring about the death of his brother.

"Correct. Malik, I know you know this too. It would be better to kill one and get rid of the rest all at the same time than to arbitrarily have to take down one after the other. I know you're young and something like this must seem exciting to you, but you have to be smart about this! If you aren't then I won't let you go," Isis said.

"I know, I know, sister. Next time I'll try to restrain my excitement. You won't have to worry about me," Malik scowled. Despite his mocking tone, the barest traces of a smile lit up on Isis's face.

"Thank you Malik. Now the two of you get all of your things ready and put them in the back of the car. We leave early tomorrow morning," Isis said, and then disappeared back through the door to Malik's room. Malik dropped down into his chair and ran a hand through his spiky mane of hair, then rested his purple eyes on Marik.

"So, it looks like we finally get to have some fun, huh? It's about time too. I've been way too cooped up in this house. It's hard being good, isn't it? Well at least we get to kill the leeches," Malik mused thoughtfully. Marik paled at the though. Once upon a time he had thought in the same way as his brother, and the thought of killing vampires had made his blood boil as well. Now the thought sent horrific images racing through his mind of Bakura and Ryou bursting into flames or lying on the ground with stakes in their hearts.

"I guess so," Marik replied, hesitating for a moment. He hoped Malik wouldn't notice, but as luck would have it, he did.

"Is something wrong, brother? You don't seem to be as thrilled as I am," Malik remarked. Marik could feel his eyes on him, inspecting him carefully, and he thought of an excuse for his pathetic behavior quickly. The last thing he needed was for Malik to put two and two together and somehow figure out why he wasn't excited. It was a bit of a stretch to come up with the correct answer, but if anyone could do it, it would be Malik.

"Sorry, I just don't feel all that well at the moment. But I'm sure it will be great," Marik said, trying to smile. Malik looked at him suspiciously, but didn't say anything else. Seeing his chance to escape, Marik decided to take it, but then was reminded of the reason why he'd come into his brother's room in the first place. His urge to sate his curiosity and find out what Ryou had been doing with Malik was too strong, and instead of leaving as he's wished to he turned to the other once more.

"So, what was Ryou doing in here? He told me he was leaving," Marik remarked casually.

"Nothing," Malik responded, a bit sourly. Now Marik did smile. His twin had just handed him the upper hand.

"Oh really? It kind of looked like he was helping you with some homework. But maybe I was wrong? Well it sure would have been nice of him if he had been," He smiled innocently. Malik's scowl deepened even more.

"I don't know what he was doing in here, but it sure wasn't helping me. And if you're so sick you should lay down and keep your nose out of other people's business," His brother snapped. Marik only continued to smile and headed for the door.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. All I'm saying is that for a moment there it had seemed like the two of you guys were friends," He called out, and then quickly walked away before Malik could rip his throat out. He was still smiling when he sat back down on his bed to finish his own homework. His grin remained on his lips until he actually started doing it, and then remembered that he should probably pack up his things like Isis had said. His smile faded then, and he wished that he and his family had never learned that vampires existed.

00000

Early the next morning the Ishtars had already left their house and were on their way to the vampire-infested town about an hour away. The car ride over was uneventful, consisting at first of some sleeping by three of the Ishtar siblings as Rishid drove. That didn't last very long enough, as all four siblings were unable to sleep well in a moving car. After that the car ride took it's usual course –it became silent. No stupid car games or car songs for this family. Long trips were somber occasions, meant for silent contemplation. Even if they were for a less serious reason than vampire hunting, they always had been serious and quiet and probably always would be. It wasn't that they weren't allowed to speak; it was just that no one chose to. So they traveled in silence.

Normally Marik didn't mind the silence, unless he had something on his mind, that was. When his mind was free to wander, the silence was more of a relaxing respite from the hectic schedule of everyday life. However, when his mind was occupied by something important, he usually thought of that something. In this case, he kept thinking of the job they were going on, and because of that he thought about Bakura and Ryou.

This trip reminded him a lot of all the driving they had done when moving from Egypt. By far, that had been the worst trip yet. Isis had been the one to propose the move, and while both Marik and Malik had put up a big fuss to stay where they were and Rishid hadn't been too thrilled about moving either, in the end she had gotten her way. Right before they'd moved away for good there had been a giant fight between all of them, which had ended with Marik and Malik especially yelling and saying things they shouldn't have, and Isis actually losing her composure and breaking down in hysterical tears. Those images and words had been in all of their minds as they'd traveled, and it had by no means been a good time for any of them.

Marik felt the same way now as he had been back then. His head kept buzzing and teeming with thoughts that he would rather not think of, and the oppressive silence was doing nothing to help. He didn't want to think about the things Ryou had told him and wonder if he did or did not have romantic feelings for Bakura, he did not want to dwell on the fact that he was going out to kill vampires, and he did not want to wonder if when he encountered these vampires he would be able to kill them.

He had been thinking about that a lot since yesterday. Before he'd met Bakura and Ryou and learned what they were he'd never had a problem with killing vampires. He'd never stopped to think that maybe not all of these creatures fed on human blood. Before, there had never been a question of what to do. But now he had to ask himself what he would do if he encountered one that was not evil. What did you do with a creature that only fed on the blood of animals? With Bakura he was able to let him go, and even now he was able to keep a close eye on the teen and make sure he never strayed off his path of abstinence from human blood. But what could be done about a vampire that did not feed off humans, one his siblings knew of? He was almost sure that his siblings would not allow it to live. And how could they when no one was there to make sure what had been said was the truth? And that wasn't even bringing up the idea that perhaps some of the vampires he had killed in the past were ones like Bakura and Ryou, ones that hadn't done anything wrong and didn't deserve to die.

Marik sighed and shifted his troubled gaze to the passing landscape outside of the car. He tried to pay attention to the outdoors and not to the thoughts in his head. His lilac eyes looked at the clock and he saw that they still had about a quarter of an hour left until they reached the town. That wasn't too bad, bit it was still a lot longer than he wished it had to be.

The first thing they did when they reached the town was the first thing they always did upon reaching a town with a job: scout out a place to stay. Whether it was a shabby motel or a grandiose hotel, they paid for two rooms and stayed there for as long as necessary. This time it was a shabby motel they stayed at, and after the rooms had been paid for and the possessions they'd brought with them stored away safely, they left and started on the second thing they did when preparing for a job: search for clues and rumors. Rishid and Isis left to go to the bar to hear any rumors the locals talked about and Marik and Malik headed toward the house of the woman who had led them to investigate the town. She claimed that vampires had apparently taken her daughter away.

"Of course Rishid and Isis would take the fun job," Malik sighed mockingly.

"We aren't old enough to go in a bar and drink Malik. They're looking for rumors, remember? Bars are a good spot to hear people talk, but they won't do so if they're suspicious. We can't drink so if went into a bar of course we would arouse suspicions. At least we have someone who's seen them to talk to," Marik shrugged.

"She probably hasn't seen anything," Malik scoffed sourly. "I bet she's just a crazy old woman looking for attention. She'll be useless." Marik sighed, not bothering to argue anymore with his brother. Maybe if he'd been in a better mood, but at the moment all he wanted to do was get this over with and then go back home. The town was fairly small, so if was only a matter of time until they found the address of the woman's house and found themselves standing outside of her door. After briefly discussing their attack plan, Marik knocked on the door.

With Malik's mutter about how this was all just a big waste of time and that they were trying to talk to a crazy old woman still lingering in his head, Marik had half-expected a gray, wiry-haired old grandmother with tons of cats to open the door. To say the least, he was very surprised when a platinum blonde, blue-eyed foreigner with creamy white alabaster skin opened the door. Her blue eyes were wide and expressive and reminded him of his sister's, and after staring for a moment Marik resurfaced from his brief swim in their depths and tried to force himself to smile in what he hoped was a friendly and comforting manner.

"Hello! My name is Namu, and this is my brother Odion. We both work for the school newspaper and we were hoping we could ask you some questions about the disappearance of your daughter," Marik said. The woman's blue eyes hardened.

"No," She said, "I'm not having more people make fun of me or my daughter." She made to close the door but on impulse Marik stuck his foot in the door. She looked at him and her lips turned into a scowl.

"Please, we're not here to make fun of anyone. We believe your story. We just want to know exactly what happened," Marik explained quickly, hoping she would believe him. Perhaps if this woman's appearance had been more like that of the crazy lady Malik expected her to be he wouldn't have cared about hearing her story so much, but something, his instinct as a hunter perhaps, told him that this woman was telling the truth.

"You believe that vampires took my daughter?" The woman questioned, suspicion lacing her tone.

"We do. We just want to help," Marik said solemnly. She looked at both of them, staring them hard in the eyes. Marik held her gaze, trying to show her that he was sincere. Finally she opened the door wide and gestured for the two of them to enter. They walked into a small, cozy living room, and Malik plopped down on the couch. Marik sighed at his brother's lack of manners and waited for their host to sit before he took a set himself.

"You said you were journalists, right? What were your names again?" The woman asked.

"Namu and Odion," Marik responded easily.

"And what exactly does the school plan on doing with the information on my daughter's disappearance?" She asked.

"We wanted to do an article about it, explaining what had happened and urging people to help with trying to find her. Whether or not they believe the story of how it happened isn't important. What matters is that we present the information we were given and try to persuade people to help," Marik explained, answering this one easily as well.

"Alright then. Ask away I guess," The woman sighed.

"First, could you tell me your name? And then I'd like to know a little more about your daughter and her general life and personality," Marik said. Malik shuffled around behind him and took out a notepad and pen. He poised the pen over the paper like he was readying himself to write, and then stifled a yawn.

"You can just call me Ms. Matawari, and my daughter is Natalie. We're both American, but we moved here when I married my second husband and have been here since, even though Jin is no longer with us. Natalie is just perfect. She graduated high school last year and was hoping to get into college. She's always been smart and cheerful and nice, and has never once caused any problems. She helps around the house and will do anything for anyone if they just ask. She's always been so kind and generous… I just don't understand how something like this could happen!" Ms. Matawari exclaimed. She covered her face with her hands and let out what sounded like a quiet sob. Marik sat uncomfortably still on the couch, his eyes on his brother. He hates it when people cried, especially girls. Malik seemed to have no trouble with it at all however, as he seemed to be drawing something on the pad of paper.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break down like that," Ms. Matawari sad. She uncovered her face and dabbed at her watery blue eyes with a handkerchief, then picked a picture off the table she sat by. She looked at it for a moment, her eyes softening and then beginning to water once more, and then handed the picture frame to Marik.

That's my dear Natalie," She explained, giving the photo and the girl in it a wistful smile. Marik looked at the girl in the photo, immediately mistaking her for the mother at first glance. The two looked so similar that it was hard to not make such a mistake. After his initial look he began to notice more things about the girl in the photo that were different. Her blonde hair was an even lighter color than her mother's, if that was even possible, and it fell down her back in golden waves. Her eyes were almost a sea-green color, and her frame was slimmer than her mother's. She looked like she could be a model. This was the type of girl who could have had a different date every day of the week if she wanted to, and Marik guessed that the boys must have loved her back in high school.

"She's very beautiful," Marik said, handing the picture back to her mother. "Now could you tell me what happened to her? Don't leave anything out." Ms. Matawari nodded and placed the picture frame back on the tabletop. She looked at it for a moment longer, then her blue eyes made contact with Marik's lilac ones and she began to talk.

"It happened almost two weeks ago now. Natalie had just come home from her job at the grocery store down the street. We had dinner and then she went up into her room. She'd only been up there for about twenty minutes or so when I heard the noises. There were loud banging noises, like things were falling to the ground, and then it sounded like something was being thrown against the wall. I started going up the stairs to see what was going on, and then I heard Natalie scream." Here Ms. Matawari paused, as if to collect her thoughts.

"When I opened the door I saw it. It was… this… thing. At first that was the only way I could describe it. It was like some horrifying monster had materialized straight from a nightmare into my daughter's bedroom. I only called it a vampire when I thought about it later on," Ms. Matawari said.

"Can you describe it to us?" Marik questioned. She nodded.

"The first things I noticed were its wings. They almost stretched from wall to wall of the room and were leathery, like a bat's. They looked so fragile, but when he flapped them the gust of wind they created was strong enough to knock things off the wall and Natalie's desk. His skin was gray and looked leathery too, and he had long claws and fangs. The last thing I noticed were his eyes, but they're the things I can remember most clearly. They were blood red and full of so much malice and excitement… He was furious and his anger burned at me, but he was also excited and happy to be doing this…" She explained, a shudder running thorough her body.

"What happened after that?" Marik prompted.

"He took her," Ms. Matawar said, looking directly at him. "He grabbed my beautiful daughter and jumped out the window with her and flew away while she screamed." A tear fell silently down her cheek and Marik sat there uncomfortably, wondering what to do next. He looked to Malik for assistance, but he was still too bust scribbling madly away on the pad of paper. What wonderful help.

"Umm, do you think we could see the room? Maybe there's something there that could help us," Marik suggested finding it as good of an idea as any.

"Yes, that's probably a good idea. It's right up the stairs here. Follow me," Ms. Matawari said, getting up from her seat. Marik and Malik stood and followed her up the stairs to Natalie's room. She opened the door and Marik stood in awe. It looked like any normal girl's room, a fancy, frilly bed, a desk, white dressers with a wide variety of trinkets and things on them, a bookshelf, and posters and pictures on the walls. The only difference was that the room was a complete mess. Glass and torn shreds of paper littered the carpeted floor, the posters were torn, some of the books had fallen out of their designated spots, and one of the drawers had actually toppled over.

"I haven't cleaned the room since then. This is exactly the way it was on the day Natalie was taken," Ms. Matawari said simply. Marik nodded in understanding. He and Malik then began to comb through the room for any evidence that a vampire had been here. While the story sounded believable, until they found any proof, they still couldn't be sure. While Marik searched by the fallen dresser Malik searched the bookcase. When he got to the window he motioned to Marik, who headed over. There at the windowsill was the proof they needed. The wood was splintered and broken up, as if something with long talons had perched on it.

"Guess this proves she isn't making all this stuff up, eh Malik?" Marik whispered.

"Lucky guess," Malik retorted. They fell silent as Ms. Matawari came to stand by them.

"This is where he stood. His claws gripped into the wood and when he left it looked like this," She explained briefly. Marik, who had already figured this much on his own, nodded anyways.

"Do you remember which direction he flew off in?" Marik inquired.

"He flew off to the south there, by those woods," Ms. Matawari answered, pointing.

"Okay. I think that's all the information we need then," Marik said, looking over at Malik, who nodded.

"Thank you Namu and Odion. I hope your article goes well," Ms. Matawari said.

"I'm sure it will. I hope your daughter is found soon. We'll do all that we can to help," Marik said. Ms. Matawari thanked them again and went back into her house, while Marik and Malik walked back to the motel they were staying at. If Isis and Rishid were there then they would tell them what happened, and if not, they would wait.

"You were quiet in there," Marik remarked to his brother. "Just didn't feel like helping?"

"Tch, until she showed us the windowsill I didn't believe her anyways. And besides, I had better things to do," Malik answered, shoving the notepad into his hands. "It looked to me like you were capable enough of handling the situation by yourself, but if you had really needed the help of your little brother that much, all you had to do was ask you know." His mouth twisted into a deranged smirk and Marik sighed and turned his attention to he notepad. He opened the first page and saw a small doodle at the bottom of the page. He flipped through the pages and saw that Malik had made a flipbook with a crudely drawn vampire being killed by a hunter that bore an uncanny resemblance to himself. The spiky hair was a dead giveaway. About halfway through the notepad wings burst from the vampire's back, and after a fight between the two, the hunter savagely sawed the vampire's head off and held it victoriously in the air. Marik's stomach churned and he pawned the notepad off to Malik, who smiled.

"Beautiful. I'm sure Isis would be thrilled to know that's what you did the whole time. Did you even pay attention to the woman at all?" Marik asked.

"Enough to know that you such at coming up with pseudo-names. Odion? What even is that?" Malik scowled. Marik shrugged. "Well I demand you change it. I want to be Namu. Not that that one's any better."

"Really? Namu sounds so girly. I figured you would have liked Odion better," Marik commented.

"Well I don't. It's a horrible name, so I'll take Namu. I'm too much of a man to make it sound girly. And who knows, maybe Odion will make you a bit more manly yourself," Malik teased wickedly.

"Oh sure. I could only hope to be as manly as you. Maybe I should wear a cape like you do too," Marik scoffed, rolling his eyes,

"Say what you will about my choice of attire. At least I'm not the one being dominated by another man," Malik retorted, with just a hint of ice in his otherwise teasing tone. Marik fell silent after that rebuttal, and Malik's sinister grin only grew wider as Marik's face heated up. That little snippet had come pretty close to home there; especially with the information he had just learned of yesterday. Well it was now pretty apparent that Malik knew exactly what kinds of things he'd been doing with Bakura, and even worse, perhaps he thought they had done more.

That last thought made his blush increase even more as he remembered the dream he'd had about Bakura the night the two of them had gone to get his motorcycle. Just the thought of it excited him, and he realized that if the two of them somehow found themselves in a relationship, they could do the very things he'd dreamed of. He was very happy when he and Malik reached the motel they were staying at, for now he had an excuse to not think of such thoughts.

Rishid and Isis were back when they returned, and Marik's blush faded away as quickly as his older siblings stood up and looked at both twins expectantly.

"Did you talk to the woman?" Isis asked.

"Oh, we talked to her alright. Surprising as it is, she's not crazy," Malik answered, flinging himself onto a bed. Isis looked at him sharply and he frowned, the reluctantly took off his boots and tossed them by the door. Marik sniggered at his brother's misfortune, then felt the wrath of those icy eyes on him as he realized that he hadn't taken his boots off either. Now Malik laughed while Marik suffered.

"As Malik said, the woman's story was true," Marik explained after his shoes had been properly put away. "Somehow a vampire got into her daughter Natalie's room and took her away. Ms. Matawari said she came in the room in time to see it fly away with her daughter just south of her house to the woods back there. She's been gone for almost two weeks now."

"Well that correlates to what we heard. It took a while for the locals to talk to us, but when they did they mentioned an old wooden lodging back there in the woods you talked about. Apparently there's a group of people that live back there. They're very quiet, very introverted. No one knows much about them, and they hardly ever go into town. The only time they do is at night. Not that any of this proves they are vampires, but it's a lead for us to look into," Isis announced.

"It sounds like it's them. They're probably all young and inexperienced too. It should be easy to find them," Marik said.

"'Young?' What makes you say that Marik?" Isis inquired, and suddenly Marik was aware of all the eyes of his siblings on him. What had made him say they were young? Well that was easy; he had said it because Bakura had told him that most vampires were nowadays. Problem was, how did he tell that to his sister?

"Umm… Well… I… just kind of thought that they were young because of the way they acted. Well… at least the one Ms. Matawari saw. Most vampires try to fit in and pretend like they're human, right? Well this one didn't even bother to pretend. He showed her his wings and he kidnapped her daughter in full view. He was cocky and arrogant and thought he wouldn't get caught. That just… kind of seems like the kind of thing a young person would do. And as for the others… Well, there aren't many vampires left anymore, are there? Because of all the hunters. So in order to keep themselves alive, they would have to turn more and more humans into vampires. Since those ones haven't been alive for as long, they'd probably be easiest for hunters to kill, so then the vampires would have to keep making more. I mean, if you follow that logic it would make sense that they'd be young," Marik explained hesitantly. Isis looked at him, and then to his surprise smiled.

"Very good Marik! Very clever deduction! That all makes perfect sense, and I think you may even be right. It's wonderful that you've put so much thought into the enemy you're facing. Determining age and personality is an important part of any kind of fighting. If you know your opponent and can get into their mind then you will have a good understanding of how they'll fight," Isis smiled.

"Kiss ass," Malik muttered. His comment attracted the attention of Isis and she turned to him.

"Did you by any chance come up with any thoughts on your enemy Malik?" She questioned.

"Nope. I don't think it's necessary. As long as I'm powerful enough to kill it then I don't need to know about its personal life," Malik grinned. Marik felt his stomach churn again.

"Malik, you know that you can't just do that! Brute strength alone isn't enough. You need to use your brain, and if you don't then I'm afraid I'll have to not allow you to work with us anymore. You need to be smart or you could end up getting seriously injured!" Isis reprimanded.

"I'll be fine! As long as I'm working with my darling brother here, he can be the brain and I'll be the brawn!" Malik exclaimed. He waited for a moment while Isis looked expectantly at him, and then changed his tone. "Fine, fine, I'll pay attention from now on."

"You'd better, or I'm serious about you not going. Now we'll be going into the woods early tomorrow morning, so I want both of you to get a good night's sleep. We're all going out for dinner in two hours or so. Until then you are free to wander around the town. Don't act suspicious, and try to not get into any conversations with the people here. After dinner we're coming back to the motel and we'll get our rooms ready for night. I don't want anyone leaving their rooms once night falls. That's it," Isis said.

"Wait! We're going tomorrow morning? What about the girl?" Marik asked, his mind returning to the picture Ms. Matawari had shown him of her daughter. He could still remember her eyes as well, blue and expressive, and the tears in those eyes. Those vampires had taken Natalie away and they had a chance to her back. But every day they spent not going after the vampires was one less day Isabelle would have.

"Marik… it's been almost two weeks since she was kidnapped, right? The chances that she's still alive and human are slim. If such a long time hadn't passed I would say we should go today, but I don't think it will matter anymore. We have to think about ourselves as well, and it would be better for all of us if we waited until tomorrow morning when he have more hours of sunlight available to us. If she is still alive, then she'll need us to help her, and we can't do that if we get ourselves into trouble because we aren't careful. What we do is dangerous work. This isn't a decision I make lightly, but it is one I must make all the same. If she is still alive then let's hope one more day won't make a difference," Isis said, her tone now somber and serious. Marik opened his mouth to argue once more, trying to prove that there must have been some was she could have survived, that they had to go as soon as possible and rescue her, but he couldn't form the words. Even as he thought of what to say he knew that Isis was right, and so the words never came.

"Come on Marik. We've got two hours to do something fun, so let's go," Malik said suddenly, abruptly standing from his seat on the bed and grabbing Marik by his arm. He threw his boots on, and with nothing else to do and still finding himself unable to form a coherent sentence, Marik followed his example and did the same. After that Malik promptly dragged him out the door and down the mains street of the town.

"What is wrong with you?" Malik asked. He flat out stopped in the middle of the street and looked at Marik as if he'd gone mad.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Marik asked, puzzled.

"What's wrong with you? You've been acting strangely. Why are you so worried about this girl? She's a nobody, just another nameless victim sacrificed to the leeches. Why do you care so much about her?" Malik questioned, brows furrowed, sounding confused himself.

"I'm worried about her because she's human! Like us! What if she's still alive out there? Waiting for someone to save her! We could save her! We could save a life and reunite her with her mother! Isn't that enough of a reason to care? Don't you?" Marik explained. Malik's frown deepened.

"But it's not just that. You were acting strangely before we even found out about the girl. You've been like this since Isis told us we were going on a hunt. And then there were times before that when you acted strange too. Remember the false alarm we had, where we thought we'd caught a vampire? You were out of it then too. Why? Aren't you excited? If you want to save humans so badly, then shouldn't you be happy to kill the bloodsuckers? Instead, whenever someone mentions it, you look like you're about to be sick. Why? What's wrong with you?" Malik demanded.

"Nothing! Marik responded quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. He saw Malik's eyes narrow. "Look, is something wrong with me not wanting to kill something, even if it is a vampire?" he elaborated.

"You weren't like this before," Malik commented vaguely.

"Well how would you rather I act? Like how I did back in Egypt?" Marik asked, getting angry himself.

"Yes, actually. At least I understood you then," His brother scoffed. That took Marik by surprise and gave him a moment's hesitation. But then he had recollected himself and was back.

"Well it won't happen. You know the kinds of things we did back then. We're lucky we didn't end up in jail, or worse. We can't afford to do things like that or act like how we did anymore. We just can't," Marik said. Malik looked at him intently, giving him a once-over, then inspecting him for a second time. When his eyes left and he began to walk again Marik followed silently, feeling like he'd dodged a bullet now for the second time today. Of course now he'd really have to be much more careful about the things he did and how he acted. The last thing he needed was for Malik to figure out that it was because of Bakura he no longer felt the same thrill when it came down to killing vampires.

00000

Dinner wasn't anything impressive. They went to a restaurant and ate food, acting the whole time like a completely normal family. When they went back to the motel that façade was dropped, and all of the precautions came out. While a vampire couldn't enter a private dwelling without being allowed in by another person, it would be foolish to only rely on that. Crosses were hung on all walls and scattered pieces of garlic were placed by windows and doors. Neither of these would really keep vampires out, but that didn't mean that they liked them. And some vampires found themselves having to clean up any messes they found, so the garlic would be useful in that way as well.

Isis told them to get to sleep, but Marik was unable to. He could hear Malik turning in his sleep in the bed next to him, but his own eyes were wide open. A sharpened stake lay on the night table beside him and his machete was hidden under his pillow. It made the pillow uncomfortable, but even if he moved it he still doubted he'd have fallen asleep. His mind was occupied by busy, unsettling thoughts, and it was a long time before they settled enough to allow Marik to sleep.

In the morning the Ishtar siblings were treated to another silent car ride as they traveled to the woods the lodge was rumored to be in. They stopped once the foliage became too thick to travel in and got out of the car, then spent half an hour or so hiding the car. After that had been completed, the siblings split up into two parties. Isis and Rishid went one way. Marik and Malik went the other.

Malik waved a mosquito away, a scowl present on his face. They'd only been walking through the woods for fifteen minutes now, and it was already hot as hell. Sweat dripped off both their faces, and the bugs blanketed them like a heavy fog.

"Should have packed some bug spray huh?" Marik asked, joking. Malik growled in reply. Apparently he wasn't in the mood to talk. Neither was Marik. Anxiety had twisted his stomach into a tight knot and he kept fiddling nervously with the blade at his side. He hadn't been able to eat even three bites of food this morning, and he hoped that wouldn't come back to haunt him later.

Marik didn't know for how long they suffered in the muggy, bug-infested heat of the woods. He had a watch with him, but he hadn't bothered to check it. All he knew was that eventually he didn't even notice the bugs anymore. His mind wandered to what Bakura was doing and how strange it was to know that the other boy liked him. He knew that he liked Bakura too, but in which way was a mystery to him. So as he thought these thoughts and kept on walking he ignored the bugs, though he still heard Malik's grumbling about them. That stopped too once they reached the lodge Isis had talked about, however.

It was in a clearing in the middle of the woods. There was another big building behind it, perhaps an oversized storage house, and both were made out of wood. There was a rusty, old, red car in the driveway. Marik guessed it was for appearance's sake only, for he guaranteed that if someone were to try and actually start the thing it would fall apart. The shades were closed over all the windows and overall the place gave off the same eerie abandoned feeling one got when seeing an old house. When they found it both twins headed back into the woods a bit and called Rishid and Isis.

"Hey Rishid. We found the house. It's right here in front of us. We're going to go in and investigate, okay?" Marik asked.

"Alright. Your sister says to be careful, and don't let anyone catch you. We've modified our path based on your directions and should be getting there soon," Rishid said.

"Got it. See you soon then. Tell Isis not to worry," Marik said, then hung the phone up and stuffed it in his pocket. Malik grinned beside him and started forward.

"Shall we go then? I'll take the house, you take the shed. Maybe we can finish the job before our dear siblings even get here. Hope there are vampires," He said, and then headed toward the house with an easygoing stride. Marik smiled, despite the situation, and snuck through the woods to the second building. This one gave off a foreboding feel, and Marik hoped it was all in his head. He didn't care if Malik was disappointed; he still wished that no one but a group of eccentric teens lived here.

There were two large wooden doors for the entrance of the building and no windows. He circled it twice, meticulously checking each side up and down for any small openings, which was a fairly time-consuming task itself. The building was more like an old barn than a storage shed. It looked as if any and all openings had been covered up, meaning there was no way for him to peek around at the inside without going through the doors. That was dangerous, but they had to know what was in there, so it left him with no other choice.

He snuck around to the front of the building and hesitantly placed a hand on one of the doors. It moved with only a slight push. A pleasant enough surprise: he'd been expecting it to somehow be locked. Without wasting another minute, Marik opened the doors and slid inside.

It was pitch black inside the building, and even after he had allowed his eyes to adjust to the blackness he still could not see. With no other option available to him, Marik took out the small flashlight he hung on his belt and turned it on.

The inside of the building looked a lot like the outside had suggested –just a plain, ordinary, everyday, if somewhat old, barn. Other than how dark it was inside, there was nothing about it that could suggest vampires might be here. He passed the darkness off on the owner having taken good care of the place. Or maybe it just wasn't as old as it looked. As he peered into each of the stalls, all he found was evidence that animals had once been there, such as old hay or murky water and an old tool or two lying about.

He was busy looking through the last couple of stalls, so he almost didn't hear the noise the first time. He paused and listened, then heard it again. It was only a quiet, breathy little gasp, but it dispelled any hopes that this barn would turn out to be perfectly normal after all from his head. Now Marik checked the last few stalls a little faster than before, not checking them so thoroughly. He found her in the second to last stall.

If he hadn't known to be looking for her he wouldn't have recognized her. She looked completely different from the girl in the photo. Her hair was limp and dirty and hung in lank strands in her face. Her skin was pale and streaked with dirt and blood in some places. He shone the light on her and when she looked up at him her blue eyes were wide and wild. There was a rope tied around her wrists and ankles, and she looked like she'd been trying to scratch through it.

Marik hastened to her side immediately and took out his switchblade. When he opened it up Natalie began to move around frantically, shaking her head and trying to get away.

"Shhh! It's okay, don't worry! I'm here to help you! You'll be okay!" Marik whispered. Natalie looked at him with her fearful eyes and he tried to smile. Then he cut the ropes binding her wrists and ankles and took a step back.

"Come on. Follow me and I'll help you get out of here. Your mother misses you, you know," Marik whispered, smiling friendly. He offered his hand to her, and Natalie backed away.

"Get away from me!" She yelled, and then before he could stop her she had ran away. Her footfalls echoed through the hallway of the born for a moment, and then she opened the door and light flooded into the barn. His eyes were blinded for a few second, but not before he saw something hanging from the rafters of the ceiling. After that the door slammed shut, and once his eyes no longer burned he shown his flashlight up at the ceiling. The light illuminated five hanging fleshy masses, masses that he recognized as sleeping vampires.

They looked like hanging bulky bundles of flesh, but he knew that the fleshy part was the wings of the vampires, wrapped tightly around them as they slept. The leathery wings were slightly sun-resistant; not enough to protect the vampire from its deadly rays, but enough to give them notice of the burning feel before bursting into flames. He moved the beam from the flashlight up more to the rafters. Their feet were gnarled and clawed, like the feet of a stone gargoyle that would adorn an old building, and the sharp claws dug tightly into the wood, keeping them suspended in the air. Marik took his flashlight off them and dug into his pocket for his ell phone, then dialed Malik.

"Hey. Look, I found the girl. She was freaked out though and ran away from me. She should be heading your way," Marik mumbled quietly.

"Already ahead of you brother. She came running right up to me. For a girl, she sure is vicious. She scratched my face up and kept screaming at me to let her go. I told her to shut up or I'd make her. Now she's as compliant as a docile lamb. See, you just need to learn how to act in that sort of situation. Acting nice won't get you anywhere. You need to show that you're in charge. Oh, and I told her my name was Namu." He could hear the grin in Malik's voice, but he didn't quite feel like answering it at this moment.

"I found the vampires. There are five of them back here, hanging from the ceiling like fucking bats," Marik whispered.

"Lucky you. I haven't found anything in this house yet. Wait for me to finish looking around in here. Once I find somewhere to shove the girl I'll join you and we'll have ourselves a party," Malik said.

"Just hurry. And be quiet. I don't want them waking up," Marik said. He shone the flashlight back at the ceiling, going from one hanging husk to the next. He inspected them closely, watching their stillness, looking for any signs of trouble. His flashlight landed on the forth one, and after that he didn't find another. Marik searched the ceiling for the fifth one, thinking maybe he'd missed it, but to his growing dismay, he didn't find anything.

"Shit. I think one of them woke up," Marik whispered, still looking around on the ceiling and hoping he was mistaken.

"You wouldn't be talking about me, now would you?" Marik jumped and spun around, coming face-to-face with an eyeful of red. He back-pedaled away quickly, shutting the phone and shoving it down into his pocket once more. A female vampire stood in front of him, grinning wickedly, her red eyes burning brightly in the dark.

"Now now, don't you even think about running away, you hear me? You let our captive escape so now you have to take her place," She chided. Marik took another step back and slowly put his hand into his back pocket. He hoped Bakura had known what he was talking about when he'd said most vampires nowadays were young. He was betting that this one was, and it would only be better if she hadn't ever faced a hunter before.

"No, I don't think I will. Sorry!" Marik apologized, smiling widely as he took two throwing knives out of his pocket and threw them at her. He heard her shriek of indignation and turned and ran for thee two doors. Behind him he heard her shriek again, then heard the shrill cries of four other vampires as they all woke up and descended from their roosts. Their large flapping wings created powerful gusts that propelled him forward and then he was out the door. He heard the pained cry of the female vampire from before and turned around in time to see her get burned from the sun, then retreated back into the depths of the barn. She spat and hissed, but made no move to go after him.

Marik's joy was short-lived however, as he heard two more cries from behind him. He turned around and saw two more winged vampires burst from the roof of the house. Smoke trailed behind them as their skin caught fires and slowly burned. The trails of smoke they left behind changed direction as they caught sight of him.

"Shit!" Marik swore, then ran into the woods. The trees were thick and grew close together, covering the sky with their dense vegetation. That was bad, because it would block out the sunlight, but it would also force the vampires to leave the skies. As if they'd read his thoughts, he heard both land behind him.

"Little brat ran in here, didn't he?"

"Thought so. Think you'll be able to handle him on your own? I'm going back to the house. There was another one of them in there too." The first voice was a female's. The second was male. He must have been talking about Malik.

"Yeah, yeah, you go after that brat and I'll go after this one."

"Good. Remember to bring him back alive."

"Got it."

He heard the flapping of wings and assumed the man had taken off. He heard the sound of a branch breaking, then another. The noises advanced slowly in his direction. Marik moved slowly backwards to an old fallen tree, keeping his ears alert for noises. He reached down behind it and readied a hand on the handle of his machete. The vampire stepped into his line of sight. Her skin was pale and her eyes red. Her wings had disappeared and her claws were gone. A long, glossy black mane of hair fell down to the small of her back. She looked around casually for him, and then kept going. Marik waited until her footsteps were gone, then took off in the opposite direction.

He knew that he was a hunter. He should be follow her and then dispose of her, but he didn't want to do this task. He didn't think he could. What he wanted to do was go back to the house and find Malik, then help him fight. He felt like he could do the fighting part, just not the actual killing. As long as he was with Malik he could still help, then allow his brother to clean up afterwards. The thought of it almost made him sick, but he knew it had to be done.

He rant o a large tree and stopped, panting and out of breathe. He sighed and leaned against the trunk. He was sweating and the bugs were back. They flew back and forth in front of his face and he swatted at them listlessly. He wondered it Isis and Rishid had arrived at the house and if they were fighting right now. He thought about calling them, but if they were fighting they wouldn't pick up anyways.

"Hello little boy," A voice purred beside him. Marik jumped away and saw the female vampire with the long black hair standing right next to where he'd been, smiling. He pulled his machete out and brandished it in front of him like a sword. The vampire laughed carelessly.

"That doesn't scare me very much, little boy. I doubt you even know how to use it properly. Now how about you be a good little pet and come here? I won't hurt you, I promise," She grinned, her fangs exposed. He knew from his encounter with Bakura that those fangs carried venom within them that would make him disoriented and groggy if it got into his bloodstream. So she definitely wasn't lying when she said it wouldn't hurt. That didn't mean he was going to get any closer to her.

When he said nothing she sighed a flicked a strand of hair behind her back. "Fine, have it your way then," She sighed again with mock disappointment. After that she charged.

Marik brought his weapon up just in time to parry a blow from her claws. She was directly in front of him, her claws locked with his blade, and she stuck her tongue out at him in a crude gesture that was reminiscent of his brother. He threw her off and ran at her, machete raised, but before he knew it she was gone.

Marik spun around, looking for where she'd gone off to, when he heard a cackling to his right. He spun around but there was only the emptiness of the forest. He heard a branch break and spun around again, only to once more find nothing. She was toying with him, baiting him in the same way a cat would a mouse, trying to tire him out before pouncing and tearing him to shreds.

Marik circled the small area he was in, keeping his eyes and ears open and alert. His hand clenched his weapon tightly. He heard the swooping of wings and spun around again, but this time he was too late. He felt her claws slice into his skin and hot blood fell from his wound. Marik swiped at the air with his machete, but the vampire was already gone, leaving behind only her lingering cackle. She was doing it again, trying to trick him. This time he wouldn't let her.

Marik circled around carefully, once more trying to find where she was. He kept his ears opened and listened, trying to pick out where she was, but every time he thought he heard a noise he saw no one. All he succeeded in doing was looking like a fool. He heard the slightest bit of noise, spun around wildly, and caught sight of long black hair. He ran forward and she jumped from this tree as well. Within seconds she was at his line of sight, close enough for him to feel her hot breath against his skin, and he swung at the same time she did. She was faster than him however, and her claws tore into his shoulder while his swing had only succeeded in freeing a strand of hair from her long mane.

She was back in the woods now and Marik put his machete away, then took off and ran. This strategy was getting him nowhere. She was a lot faster than him, and every time he tried to hit her she would just retreat back into the tress. What he needed was to get her somewhere out in the open where she couldn't hide and couldn't dart out and strike at him.

For almost a full minute Marik was able to run before the vampire realized he was gone and came after him. He heard her outraged cry and knew she was coming. The trees hampered her speed quite a bit, but there were also a disadvantage to Marik. He was sweating full force again, and it mingled with the blood from the wound on his arm, making it sting. He ran through the trees as fast as he could, but could hear his pursuer close behind him and growing closer.

He had to do something. Weaving through trees aimlessly in search of a clearing wasn't going to work unless he found one very soon. He could practically feel her swipes as she tried to grab him, and he was getting tired again, even though adrenaline was still pumping through him like a fast-acting toxin. He grabbed the pack he kept at his hip and dug around for a small glass vial. Once his fingers had found it he clenched it in his hands and brought it out, then took the last of his throwing knives from his pocket. He opened the vial and blood splashed all over his fingers and the blade of the knife. When the vial was empty he threw it off to the side of him and burst forward, hoping that this would work.

Marik stopped running and turned around quickly. He flipped the knife in his hands once, then clenched it tightly and waited. In only a matter of seconds he saw the vampire, her red eyes burning brightly, claws extended, a feral snarl on her lips as a war cry ripped from her throat, and her long mane of black hair flowing behind her like a majestic cape. Then she was right in front of him and all he saw were claws and red, and then he had impaled her with his knife and she fell over.

_"What did you do to me? What did you do to me, you little bastard?"_ She shrieked, unmoving but for her mouth. Her eyes burned red and she hissed viciously.

"Dead man's blood," Marik replied hollowly. All at once he didn't care about the bugs or the heat, or that sweat was falling into his wound and stinging it. This situation was suddenly altogether too similar to how he'd found Bakura. Paralyzed by dead man's blood, unable to move, helpless, just waiting for someone to finish him off. And once again, that job fell to Marik.

_"Damn. I almost wished you would just kill me and get it over with already."_

It was too similar, too similar to the situation with Bakura. Thoughts raced through his head, making it hurt and giving him a headache. His hands trembled as he took his machete back out. He was the only one here. He had to kill her. It was his job to kill vampires and he had to do it.

_"If you're going to kill me then do it already. I'm tired of this stupid game."_

But he couldn't! It was just too damn similar to what had happened with Bakura! All he could picture was Bakura lying there, hissing and spitting like a wounded animal that had been backed into a cage. He could no longer see the red eyes of the vampire in front of him, but only the red eyes of Bakura, angry, burning brightly, telling him that he didn't drink human blood, that he had no reason to be killed, telling him to kill him if he was going to. What if this vampire was the same? What if she didn't drink human blood either?

But that was silly, because of course he knew that she did. What else would she want the human girl for? She drunk blood and he knew it, but he couldn't stop the thoughts from flowing anyways. What if, what if? What if she wasn't evil? Could he kill her? Could he end her life?

_"Want me to beg you not to kill me? Do it then mortal!"_

"Ahh…" Marik grunted, grabbing at his head. "Bakura…" The vampire was still in front of him, and suddenly he wished he weren't here, he wished he were with Bakura, teasing him and laughing with him, being held and touched and kissed by him. His true feelings for his friend were revealed to him with startling clarity and a fervent longing that hit him so hard it actually hurt. He didn't want to be here anymore, he wanted to be with Bakura.

_"Let go of me! Get me out of here!"_ The vampire screamed, making his head pound.

"Shut up! _SHUT UP!_" Marik screamed. "You think I want to do this? You think I want to kill you? Just _shut up!_" She was silent for a moment and stared at him with her wide red eyes, then a moment later began shrieking again. Marik's head was throbbing, and he raised his machete, not sure what he was going to do with it, but ready to do something. She yelled again and Marik threw the machete at the trunk of a tree and it stuck. A moment later the leaves of a tree rustled, and Marik's head whipped up. Fear seized him, and then his brother's head emerged from the trees.

"Is that you screaming your head off?" Malik asked, and then he caught sight of the vampire and his eyes zoomed in on her immediately. "You caught one? Good. Isis and Rishid came and took control of the ones in the shed and told me to get that girl somewhere safe. It took her back to the car and then I came to look for you. I thought I wasn't going to get any action at all, but at least you found one."

"Finish her," Marik choked out, feeling nauseous. His brother talked so casually about all of this while a vampire lie in front of him, ready to die. He couldn't do that. Not now, not then, maybe not ever again. "Take her. Finish her."

"What do you mean?" Malik asked, eyes narrow.

"Finish her! Kill her! I can't! I just can't do it!" Marik yelled, then ran. He ran away from his brother and the vampire, knowing that he was a coward and a baby and unable to do what needed to be done. But Malik would get the job done, Malik would be able to kill her, and he knew that he would too. He ran, not wanting to see it, not wanting to hear it, not wanting to even think about it. He ran, and now the trip through the woods was not so long as it had been the first time. Now he passed through the trees quickly, and passed the car just as quickly. He kept running, ignoring the steadily growing ache in his side and in his feet, ignoring the sweat that accumulated on his body, and ignoring anything having to do with vampires. He ran until he reached the motel room, and the he locked the door to the room behind him and collapsed on the ground, body exhausted and tired and trembling.

Images of the vampire lying prostrate on the ground assaulted his brain, and he grabbed his head and screamed. He shut his eyes tightly and buried his head in his legs, but the image was branded into his mind. By now she would be… She'd be…

But she was evil! They all were! It had to happen! They were not good, they were not just trying to live peacefully and away from hunters, they were talking humans and kidnapping them in such a blatant way that they were just asking to be found, they were evil, and they were not like Bakura! Bakura had been right, the vampires who were good didn't deserve to be killed, but she had been bad and it was necessary. It had to be done! There was no way she could have been left alive. It had to happen, it had to happen, it had to! He couldn't have done anything. It had to happen. It was her own fault. It had to happen. Had to. Had to happen. Had to. Happen. Had to happen, had to happen, had to happen, hadtohappenhadtohappen, wasn't his fault…

The thought repeated itself over and over in his head like an endlessly repeating mantra fro him to believe in, but instead of making him feel better, he only felt worse every time that one sentence echoed in his head. He didn't realize it, but tears silently fell from his eyes. Marik sat there, only thinking that one thought, mind stuck on the same image of the vampire lying on the ground, every now and then the image blurring to instead look like Bakura. He didn't know how long he sat there. He wasn't really aware that time was even passing. He was stick in that one moment, stuck on that one thought, and when his mind tried to move to a new subject he balked and went back to familiar grounds.

The sound of knocking on the door viciously tore him out of the rut he was stuck in. His head shot up and his eyes widened. His tear-stained cheeks felt strange, and when he stood his legs were shaky, his movements robotic. He opened the door and let Isis in, the mutely sat down on the bed. Isis stood in front of him, looking awkward and out of place.

"Marik? Are you okay?" Isis asked tentatively. Marik said nothing, his mind already drifting from Isis to fall back on familiar red eyes…

"Malik told me what happened, Marik. I just want to know if you're okay," Isis said softly. Marik looked up at her, and, unbeknownst to him, tears spilled once more from his lilac eyes and ran down his cheeks. Isis's own eyes widened and she grabbed Marik and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Oh Marik!" Isis exclaimed. "It's okay, it's okay. Don't cry Marik, it's okay." Marik was jarred from his thoughts by those words and his sister's tight embrace, and he raised his hands up to wide away the tears. Isis held him tightly, in the kind of embrace he expected his mother would have held him in if she'd lived long enough, full of comfort and love and protection, as if she could chase away all of the monsters and make everything well again. Marik knew he was too old to be held like this, and if his brother were to see him he'd be teased, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He needed to he held and he needed to be comforted, especially right now.

"Everything is okay Marik. You don't have to worry anymore. I know… I know that we're hunters Marik, but that doesn't mean the only thing for you to do is killing. It's all right if you can't do it. Each and every life is precious Marik, and the ability to treasure and understand the value of every life is an admirable attribute. That's something that you alone posses Marik, and it's something your brother may never have. Don't ever think that's a bad thing, and don't think it's not helpful. It's okay if you can't kill Marik. You're be helpful in other ways," Isis said, hitting the nail right on the mark. He didn't know what Malik had told her, but the majority of his problems she would have had to figure out on her own. Again she reminded him of the way his mother would have been, and he felt some remorse that Isis had to have grown up in such a maternal way, but a larger part of him was grateful.

"Thank you Isis," Marik said, moving out of her embrace. She smiled at him, and although Marik could still see red eyes imprinted in his mind, he no longer felt the same fear he had experienced before.

00000

He was left alone to calm down after Isis left, and for that he was been more grateful. Even though Isis had helped him out greatly, Marik still required some time alone to think things over.

He could no longer kill vampires. That much was obvious. Evil or not, he couldn't help thinking about Bakura, and now that he knew his true feelings for Bakura, he didn't want to even think about hurting him. He wanted to talk to Bakura as soon as possible, and that meant asking Ryou where he was. He had decided to call Ryou tonight, and he thought that if he were lucky, maybe Bakura would have returned home.

His feelings for Bakura. The main event. He now knew that he had feelings for Bakura, and, thinking back on the time spent with his friend, he supposed that shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, even thought it did. Even though this fact was now apparent to him, he still was unsure of how _strongly_ he felt for Bakura, and _what_ he felt. He knew that the liked the other very strongly in a physical fashion, and had strong emotional feelings for him as well, but how far down did those feelings run?

Later, he decided, he'd deal with that question later. Before he even thought about answering that he needed to at least talk to Bakura about all of this. But first he needed to get back home.

When Marik entered the second motel room after he felt better he discovered that the mission had been a success. The vampires had all been killed and the girl returned with his sibling sustaining only minimal injury. Apparently the two vampires that had been in the house were the oldest, and the ones who had turned all of the others. Once they had been killed the vampires in the barn had died as well. Malik had taken the girl back to her mother, and in the process had apparently become something of a god to Ms. Matawari and Natalie. Isis and Rishid, who had been inconspicuously following behind Malik in case an emergency arose (past experiences had shown that sometimes victim who had been kidnapped were returned in a very unstable condition), confided in him that the mother had thrown herself crying at his feet, and the daughter had loudly sobbed "Namu, Naamu!" as he left. Due to their rather loud whispering Malik had of course heard this, and, to Marik's surprise, his cheeks flamed with embarrassment. The two older Ishtar siblings had burst out into laughter, and now it was Malik that left the room and retreated into his own.

After Isis's laughter had died down (Rishid was still trying to discreetly mask his own), his sister told him that instead of driving them back home, they had decided to remain here for the rest of the day just to be sure that things were now okay and put to rest. Some time around dinner they'd go out to eat, then stay here for the rest of the night and leave in the morning. So with that in mind, Marik went back into his room where he watched TV with his brother.

"So," Malik said when he came into the room, "you aren't going hunting anymore?"

"I don't know," Marik confessed, unsure himself if he would or not. He didn't want to just let his family go in there alone, but he couldn't kill vampires. At least not now. Maybe not ever. Malik's eyes narrowed in confusion as he said this, unsure of what this could mean and uncomprehending, no doubt, how Marik could be unable to kill.

"Hmm," Malik grunted, his eyes swiveling back to the TV. Marik plopped down onto his own bed and watched the television with him until Isis knocked on the door and told them they were going to be leaving soon. Both twins got ready, and soon they were all silently driving in the car. Dinner was fairly silent as well with only casual talking going on. When they got back to the motel Marik lied down in his bed and took a small nap.

When he woke up again it was dark out and his brother was asleep. Good. He wanted to call Ryou and see if Bakura might be there. And if he wasn't, then he would demand Ryou tell him where to find him.

He snuck out of the room silently, then walked a few feet away from the rooms. He didn't think any of his siblings would come out here, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and he really didn't want anyone to overhear his conversation.

He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number, then waited patiently. Two rings into the call Marik's breathing hitched and he made the connection that he was now calling Ryou, a vampire, right after he had just been the accomplice to the murder of several. His mind balked and told him to _hang up the damn phone!_ But it was already too late and Ryou had picked up and was talking to him.

"Hello?"

What would he say if Ryou asked him why he'd been told to leave their house so abruptly?

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Marik's brain jumpstarted and he smiled unsteadily, like he expected that the other could see him and would be fooled. "Hi Ryou. It's me, Marik. Sorry for calling so late at night."

"Oh, hello Marik! It's all right that you called. I wasn't asleep yet anyways of course," Ryou said. He could hear the other boy's gentle smile, and he knew that his was genuine. Marik chose to remain silent, not knowing what to say now that he had Ryou on the line.

The silence stretched on into the night, until finally Ryou broke it. "Marik, are you okay?"

"No… I-I guess not. …We left to go vampire-hunting Ryou. We killed seven of them. I-I'm sorry. We had to. They weren't like you Ryou. They were bad," Marik said.

"That's okay Marik. I know. There are a lot of bad vampires out there, and it's good that you're stopping them. You know that, don't you?" Ryou asked, after a slight hesitation. Marik's stretched longer than that.

"Yeah, I guess so," He replied finally, and then there was an even longer silence. He could feel that Ryou was unsure of what to say next, and Marik wasn't able to bring himself to talk about why he had actually called. But he had to say something, and he wanted to talk to Bakura now more than ever.

"Ryou, your brother wouldn't happen to be home, would he?" Marik asked finally.

"Sorry, but no. He's still gone," Ryou said.

"Alright," Marik said, feeling his determination swell. He wanted to talk to Bakura, and if he weren't home, then Marik would have to go out and find him. "I'm coming home tomorrow Ryou. Once I can get away from my house I'll head over to yours, and then I want you to take me to where Bakura is. I want to talk to him."

00000

True to his word, when Marik got home the next day he left his house as soon as he could. He didn't tell anyone that he was going to Bakura and Ryou's house, but he did have to come up with an excuse to go out. He said that he'd wanted to go on a walk. So okay, it was a crappy excuse, but another one hadn't presented itself to him and Isis bought it. Before he left she had told him once again that it was okay if he couldn't kill vampires, so he assumed that was her reasoning for his wanting to go on a walk. Funny, he'd never thought a weakness of his would actually come in handy one day.

Either way, he got out of the house and was well on his way to Ryou's soon enough. He reached it quickly and knocked on the door, then waited. Ryou opened the door and let him in with a cheerful "Hello," then closed it behind him.

"I'll only be a minute getting ready, and then we can go. It's a little far from here, but I've got the car so I can drive you," Ryou said as he took his shoes out of the closet. For some reason Marik really couldn't picture Ryou actually driving a car. "You ready to go Marik?" He asked when he finished. Marik nodded.

"Let's go," he said. Ryou opened the door and out they went. Both climbed into the car and buckled in, then Ryou drove off. Saying that the place Bakura had gone to was "a little far from here" turned out to be quite the understatement by Ryou. It took them about twenty minutes just to get out of Domino, and after that they drove on the highway for another ten minutes before reaching some kind of national park. Ryou parked his car in the designated parking spot and got out, then started up a path into the woods surrounding them. Marik followed closely, not wanting to get lost in the woods somewhere by himself, especially when Ryou veered off the well-trod hiking trail and headed even deeper into the woods.

He didn't like being in this place, he realized. There were too many trees and they grew too thickly together and blocked most of the sky from his searching eyes. He felt like he was being confined, and longed to be able to see the sky and flat land, or even the familiar buildings of Domino.

"Does Bakura really go this far outside of Domino just to think?" Marik asked, not liking the silence.

"Well, we go here to feed sometimes too," Ryou answered vaguely. The words sent a shiver up Marik's spine and a picture of Natalie into his mind. _She_ had almost been feed.

He shook his head and banished the image and thought. That was because of those vampires, not because of his two. A better thing to think of was why Bakura would go so far away. He could understand eating all the way out here to not draw attention to themselves, but wasn't this just a little too far a place to go away to just to think? And wouldn't it be cold? And… lonely?

"He'll be just up there," Ryou said, pointing to a spot where the trees looked like they thinned out just a little. "Be careful when you go up there though, because we're standing on a cliff right now. Bakura will be right at the edge of it."

"Aren't you going too?" Marik asked, turning back to look at him.

"I should stay here. You need to talk to him, right? Just keep going straight until you come to the rocks over there, and be careful not to slip," Ryou said. Marik peered in the direction of his outstretched finger, but only saw more trees. Either vampires had better eyesight than humans or his own eyes were going bad, because he couldn't see any rocks of the drop-off of a cliff. Oh well, guess he'd have to find it.

"Yeah, I guess you should just stay here. I just go straight then?" Marik asked, feeling strangely elated. He was going to see Bakura. It had only been five days since he'd last seen the other vampire, but it felt like a lot longer than that.

"Yup. Good luck," Ryou said cheerfully.

"Mm. Thanks Ryou," Marik smiled, and then started to head straight. As he walked on the feeling of elation grew stronger, and so did an almost panicky feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was going to talk to Bakura, his friend –his _male_ friend—who he just happened to have feelings for. He was going to be effectively admitting to those feelings, and then praying that they were returned. The fact that Ryou already told him that he was pretty sure Bakura liked him had completely slipped his mind, and unfortunately the panicky feeling was the stronger of the two emotions he was experiencing.

When he got close to the spot Ryou had been pointing at he saw the rocks. And again, it seemed Ryou had been using an understatement to describe said rocks. "Boulders" would have been more specific. Well, to be precise, they weren't exactly boulders either. It looked like a number of big boulders had been broken down somehow to make a bunch of big rocks. So, not boulders necessarily, but still really big rocks… and at the top of that pile was Bakura.

Marik walked a bit further and emerged from the woods next to the base of the big pile. A couple of steps further and he could see over the edge of the cliff he was standing on. A sea of green trees stretched out as far as the eye could see, all the way to the point where the sky met the horizon. This park must have been enormous. He took a few steps back again to get away from the edge and stood by the pile of rocks Bakura was on. He looked up at the pale teen, who was staring out at the horizon. Marik sighed and settled against the pile. He knew that Bakura must have seen him, but hadn't made any move to talk to him yet, and that was fine. It sure looked like he'd be in for a long wait though.

Marik's lilac eyes followed the track of the sun across the sky as it slowly sunk toward the horizon. Bakura sat at the top of the pile, as silent and still as a stone monolith. Ryou had said he'd come here to think. Well, maybe he was still thinking then. That was fine. Marik would wait. His heart thudded loudly his chest, reminding him of the feelings he discovered he had for his strange friend. He was in quite a pickle because of those feelings, but now he was in for the long haul. No more hesitations, no more doubts. This was it, and he'd wait for as long as he needed to.

00000

"I figured you would have come sooner," Bakura said. Marik's eyes fluttered open as the familiar gruff voice drifted down to him. He wasn't sure how long he'd been waiting, but it was long enough for him to start drifting off to sleep. He looked up at the pile of rocks but Bakura was no longer up there. He spun around and nearly screamed as his eyes met Bakura, who was only a foot or so away from him.

"God! You scared the shit out of me Bakura!" Marik yelled, voice a bit shrill. He raised a hand to his chest in a vain attempt to still his heart –which felt like it was trying to bolt out of his ribcage. Bakura mumbled what might have been an apology, but otherwise remained taciturn.

"I might have come sooner but I've been busy," Marik said finally, once it felt like his heart was not going to explode and his body was no longer trying to kill itself.

"Killing vampires, right? Ryou told me," Bakura said carefully, his eyes flashing. Marik saw no red, but he was unsure as to what that tone could insinuate. "I don't want you to do that anymore," He continued, then stopped again. Marik exploded.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? They're killing people and it's my duty as a hunter to stop them!" He shouted, angry now all of a sudden. Who was Bakura to tell him that? He had no idea what that mission had cost him! Ryou had an inkling because he'd been the one who was home when Marik had called and had heard his discomfort, but Bakura had been gone, Bakura had been here. Bakura had no right to say anything to him. And what made him more infuriated was that he had obviously talked to Ryou, so apparently the only one he wasn't talking to was him!

"I don't want you doing it! It's dangerous!" Bakura hissed, eyes flashing once more. And this time Marik saw the red.

"And just who are you to tell me that? My mother?" Marik sneered. Dimly, he realized this was not how their talk was supposed to go, and that he should calm down, but that wasn't so easy to do. Along with this realization, somewhere close to his subconscious mind he understood that he was jealous. Jealous of Ryou because Bakura had been talking to him. He knew that hiss jealousy was stupid to be feeling, but that didn't make it go away any faster than his anger did. And that was taking its own sweet time in leaving as well.

"No, but it you weren't so stupid you'd listen to me anyways!" Bakura seethed, obviously very angry himself.

"Are_ you_ stupid?" Marik asked, blinking. "If I did that then who would stop them from killing humans?"

"So you'd die then?" Bakura asked, chillingly sold. "You'd die to save them?" Marik opened his mouth to say something else, stopped, closed his mouth, and actually thought about the question. He knew that what he and his siblings did was dangerous, but he hadn't ever really thought about just how dangerous. Up until that last mission, he had thought himself invincible. Well, that sure had been an eye-opener. He'd learned that he had his weaknesses after that. And it was only now that he'd discovered that he was even able to contemplate the idea that on a mission, even he could one day die. But even with this newly gained knowledge, he didn't think he could just stop. Bakura must have seen it in his face, for he began to talk once more, still cold, but less so than before.

"Why can't you stop? Let someone else do it. If it's that important, then someone else will do it. Let them. Give it up. Just let someone else do it. Can't you do that?" Bakura asked, sounding almost as if he were pleading. Marik took a step away from the other teen, disrupting the tension in the air and the mood around them.

"Look, I don't want to talk about that anymore. That's not why I came up here," Marik said, looking away from deep chocolate eyes. He felt like he'd done something stupid by getting angry.

"Well that's what I need to talk about! This is why I can't do this!" Bakura yelled, suddenly agitated again. The deep chocolate was banished and only passionate, fiery red chasms of liquid lava remained. Marik had a feeling they would stay that way for a while.

Bakura's hands clenched into a fist once, twice, and then he opened them again, his hands claw-like, reminding Marik uncomfortably of similar claws that had ripped open his arm. The wounds started to ache under their bandages just thinking about it. Bakura growled, and Marik had to stop himself before he inadvertedly took a step back. Instead of advancing toward him like he half-expected him to, Bakura growled again and turned around, walked to the edge of the cliff, and stopped.

"I can't do this!" He roared. Against his better judgment, Marik advanced toward Bakura slowly, making sure the other was fully aware that he was approaching. He placed a hand on his shoulder and turned the other around.

"Do what, Bakura? What's wrong?" He asked.

"This!" Bakura said, gesturing wildly to the two of them. Marik's eyes widened in realization and his heart skipped a beat. He understood what Bakura was saying all right, but he wished he didn't.

"Wh-what do you mean Bakura?" Marik stammered, hoping he had somehow misinterpreted Bakura's rather obvious gesture and the meaning of his words.

"I know that Ryou told you that he thought I liked you," Bakura said, looking him straight in the eye. No questions here. "I don't know whether or not he's right, but I know that I feel… _things_ for you. I want to be _near_ you, and I want to make sure you're safe and don't get hurt. Maybe that does mean that I like you. I came here to think about it, but I can't. I can't _do this_ if you're going to be fighting vampires and putting yourself in danger. I can't do it! I-I'll go mad!" Marik thought it was impossible, but somehow Bakura's eyes became an even brighter, more vivid red as he talked. They shone with even more intensity than they usually did, and Marik felt that somehow he needed to convince Bakura otherwise, because he could _feel_ those eyes calling to him, and he _needed_ this.

"No. No no no no no. Don't say that Bakura. You can't. Bakura, I-I like you Bakura. I like you. And I _need_ this," Marik said, tightening his grip on Bakura's shoulder without his own notice. Bakura looked at him and Marik felt hope stirring in his heart the longer that look lasted. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was all he'd needed to do. Maybe it would be okay now.

And then Bakura yanked himself away, broke eye contact, and that fragile feeling of hope shattered.

"No! I don't care! I don't want to hear it! I can't do this!" He yelled.

"Why not?" Marik demanded, feeling his anger surge again now.

"You'll do something stupid! You're only a human! You'll do something stupid, think you're stronger than you really are, and you'll get yourself killed! That's what humans do! They die! I won't do that! I won't do t_his_! I'm not going to end up like Ryou! I won't, because I won't do it! No!" Bakura yelled, eyes wide, hands claw-like as he paced. Marik's own lilac eyes narrowed.

"You're afraid," he said quietly. Bakura stopped his frantic pacing, dropped his hands, then slowly turned and faced him, expression unreadable.

"What?" he asked, just as quietly.

"You're just afraid," Marik repeated. "You're afraid that if you were to like me, something would happen to me and you'd get hurt! You're afraid!" For a second Bakura looked like he'd been punched, and Marik knew that he'd been right. Bakura was afraid. After the second passed, red eyes narrowed to mere slits, only showing the barest hints of furious red.

"I have lived for hundreds of years and encountered many different evils in my extended life. I have heard of and seen things you would not even _imagine_ existed. Out of all the foes and enemies I have had, _I _am the one still standing. What would you know about fear, or anything even close to it? I _am not_ afraid," Bakura hissed dangerously.

"Then prove it," Marik smirked. "You like me, I like you. You're not afraid and why would I be? So what's to stop _this_—" Here Marik gestured at the two of them much like Bakura had— "from happening?"

"If you were smart you'd be afraid. We may be friends now," Bakura said, adding an extra layer of poison to the word "friends," "but I could still easily kill you. I could slit your neck right this instant and you wouldn't even realize you were dead. If you were smart, you would never have wanted anything to do with me."

"Well let's make a compromise. You don't kill me, and I'll make sure to keep myself safe when my siblings and I go on hunts. I can't kill vampires anymore now anyways. I keep thinking of you," Marik admitted casually, still smirking. Truth be told, he hadn't wanted to reveal any more about that little weakness to anyone. And he had especially not wanted anyone to know _why_ he could no longer kill vampires. But if that knowledge was what was needed to make Bakura let him in, then so be it. He _needed _this, and he _would_ have it.

"Aww, isn't that just cute?" Bakura remarked sarcastically, now smirking himself as well. And even though he hadn't outright said that they would try this new obstacle in front of them, Marik knew that that was what he had meant. He could see it in Bakura's eyes, the way they were still that bright, bright red, reflecting not only the uncertainty and concern that Bakura still felt, but also how strong his emotions were. And while even though this meeting hadn't exactly gone the way he had planned it to and they'd both lost their tempers, Marik wouldn't have it any other way.

"Ummm… Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but to overhear… Does this mean the two of you are together now?" Both teens turned, and, to no one's surprise, saw Ryou standing at the edge of the woods, smiling sheepishly.

"I figured you would have come sooner too," Bakura said, rolling his eyes, but smiling nonetheless. Ryou laughed.

"Well, I did want to give you some measure of privacy. So are you two together then?" Ryou asked, sounding exactly like a child eager to receive a new toy.

"Well are we?" Marik asked, smiling as he looked at Bakura.

"I guess so then," Bakura answered, and Ryou cheered loudly, then ran to give his brother a hug. Marik stood by, chuckling, and then his eyes widened as Ryou grabbed him by his arm and dragged him into the hug as well.

"It sure was a strange way to do it, but I'm so happy for the two of you!" Ryou exclaimed happily. And Marik's smile widened even more, because even though he would have a hell of a time explaining this to his siblings, even though he might not be a good hunter anymore, even though he had no idea how to even act in a relationship, this was perfect for him, and he was happy.

* * *

Tada, it's over! Not the story of course, but the chapter. Although, I suppose I could end it right there, couldn't I? But no, I won't. I still have more ideas for this, and so I must continue on. Anyways, babble time now. So, there was a huge absence of Bakura in this chapter. Except for the very end there. I mean, sure, Marik kept thinking about him, but there was no physical Bakura until the end! I found that just a little sad.

Next up: my policy of vampire lore. So, I mentioned garlic, crosses, and messes. As I'm writing this, I make it so that vampires don't like garlic or crosses. They won't run away because either of those things gets thrust in their face, but that doesn't mean they'll like it. Imagine it being the same as eating a food you don't like. You can eat it, but that doesn't mean you'll like it. Get it, got it, good. As for messes, I have a huge book on mythological creatures, and in the vampire section it said that some lore writes vampires as being clean freaks. if they see a mess, they clean it. I thought that sounded kind of interesting, so I used it with only a slight variation -I made it be so only some vampires had to clean things. Like, Ryou per say. I could totally see him being a neat freak, haha XD

Next. As I'm writing this, I can't help but to notice that most of my characters are OOC. Not in a bad way, no, but I don't exactly write them as I think they act in the anime or manga. As I write this, (and maybe it helps because it's AU), but I keep getting into the mindset that these are MY characters and so I give them whatever characteristics and attributes I feel they should have. I still like to keep them in character, but I also think that by doing this, while I've fleshed them all out a bit more, I sort of deviate from the characteristics they posses in the anime or manga. Anyone else understand what I mean and see it? Or maybe this is just me? Well, if you do see what I mean, tell me your feelings on that, because I can keep making things the way they are now, or I can try and make things a bit more IC. And if you don't see it at all, well that's okay too.

These next three things aren't really important at all, but I decided to point them out anyways. So I was calculating up how long this story has been going on, and it's been a month. Bakura and Marik have known each other for a month. Oops. Sure, Marik was kind of watching(stalking) Bakura for longer than that, but they've only been talking to each other for a month. Yay for fast relationships!(?) Second little tidbit: I totally thought the scene where Marik was standing by the rocks and waiting for Bakura to talk to him was a perfect place to end the chapter. It was just so nice and I actually considered ending it right there, but then the next little scene where they actually talked to each other wouldn't have really fit with the chapter that comes after. Sigh, and it was so perfect too. And last! I used italics a lot in the last scene. Just saying. Go emotionally charged words!

Okay! Important stuff now! If you don't read anything else, then **READ THIS! THAT'S RIGHT, READ IT! IT'S IMPORTANT!** Okay, now that I have your attention... Chapter eleven may take a while. I know, I know, this one took so long as it is, but my other fanfiction has been a bit neglected and I need to update that one before I continue on with this one. Plus, I'm kind of drawing a blank on what to do for chapter eleven. I mean, I've got some ideas, I just need to string them all together. So it might be a while, but then again, it will be summer vacation soon, so that means I have more time to write, so maybe it won't take too long. As long as I don't have to work all vacation, bleh XP

Okay, well that's it then, bye bye! Sorry it took so long, hope you enjoyed the chapter (it was long! Not as long as seven, but still!), and if you want to, give me a review! Thanks!


	11. Troubles

Hello everyone! Ugh, I know, it's been quite a looong time. And I really do apologize for that. There isn't a good excuse for how long it took me to get this chapter up, but allow me to explain regardless! Most of the reason is because I'm lazy. Some of it is also due to the fact that I started college, and getting settled in and whatnot took some time. Then I had some bad writer's block, and even when I got over it, I still never quite got into the feel for this chapter (as you may notice. I feel that it's a bit lacking). I also started watching a new anime, and got obsessed with that. Soo, some things happened, and it just took me a really long time to get around to writing this chapter. That being said, here it is for you now!

**Disclaimer: **Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, and probably never will. Just get used to that fact folks.

* * *

A relationship turned out to be something much more difficult to deal with than Marik would have assumed. There was the trouble of trying to explain to his siblings why he was always going over to Bakura's house now, or why every once in a while he came home with markings on his neck from when Bakura decided to randomly attack him. Most of these he was able to hide, but sometimes Isis noticed and, of course, made sure everyone else knew about them too. His brother and sister thought there was some girl he was sneaking off to see. Rishid had actually given him the pregnancy talk. Only Malik suspected the truth about where those marks were coming from.

Not only did Marik have to deal with his annoying family, but then there was Bakura himself. His boyfriend. Man was that strange to say. He really couldn't believe it. He was especially having trouble with the random attacks from Bakura that he had mentioned before. They always caught him by surprise. Like the attack he received the moment he knocked on the door of Ryou and Bakura's house.

Marik was standing at the door, waiting for someone to open it. He had just been over here yesterday after school, and the day before that too. He wondered if he should really be coming over every day like this. He and Bakura were together now, but did that really mean that they had to spend ever day together? He wanted to be with Bakura and to see him everyday, but he didn't want to be intruding either.

The door opened, and before Marik was quite aware what was happening, a white blur flew at him and adhered itself to his waist. He felt warm, familiar lips on his own, and a rather impatient tongue trying to push its way past his own lips. After he recovered from his shock over the sudden attack, Marik opened his mouth eagerly, and wrapped one arm about Bakura's waist. His free hand buried itself in white hair.

"Nice to see you too," Marik greeted when Bakura pulled away. The vampire grinned at him lewdly, showing off both sharp fangs and red eyes. He moved in for another kiss, but Ryou appeared in the doorway and dragged both of them into the house.

"No making out in front of the neighbors! Behave yourselves now!" Ryou scolded as he sat them both down on the small couch.

"Doubt they would have minded too much. Long as we put on a good show it would have been fine," Bakura smirked. He elbowed Marik in the side, whose face had gone a strange shade of red. Doing… _that_… with Bakura in front of his neighbors? Oh my…

"Marik? Are you okay? Your face has gone all red. Maybe your aren't feeling well? It is hot outside and it's a bit of a walk…" Ryou trailed off, sounding worried. Marik's already red face only worsened. Caught!

"I know! I'll go get you a glass of water. If you're hot, that has to be the best solution, right?" Ryou exclaimed. He hoped off his chair eagerly and headed into the kitchen. The very moment he was gone, Bakura took the opportunity to once again adhere their lips together. Marik hadn't even noticed the way his arms had snaked themselves around his waist, but now that Ryou was gone those arms tightened and pushed Marik right up against Bakura.

"Just what were you thinking about that made you so flustered?" Bakura questioned huskily in between kisses. He smirked as Marik blushed again and then lowered his head to the Egyptian's neck and began to kiss the sensitive skin there.

"N-nothing," Marik stuttered as his blush deepened. He moved his head to the side slightly and brushed his hair, giving Bakura easier access to his neck. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax under the pleasurable feeling.

"Liar," Bakura hissed, making Marik shiver.

"No, really, I-"

"Bakura! Marik!" Marik jumped away from Bakura the moment he heard his name being called (which was difficult to do, seeing as Bakura's arms were still wrapped around his waist). His face grew bright red when he saw Ryou standing in the doorway, looking at the two of them with a stern expression etched into his features. He was holding a glass of water in one hand, and the other was poised against his hip.

"Honestly you two! I can't leave you alone for a second before you're on top of each other again! Can't you _please_ refrain yourselves? Doing such things like that, it's almost indecent!" Ryou scolded. Bakura smirked and quirked an eyebrow at his younger brother.

"Ryou, we're living in the twenty-first century now, remember? Everyone does things like this in public. And really, we're only doing it in front of you, and you can hardly be considered 'public,'" Bakura finished. Ryou glared and put the glass of water down on a table. Then he marched straight up to his brother and sternly looked him right in the eyes.

"Well that's because people in this century have no _morals_," Ryou started.

"Or you're just a prude," Bakura snickered. Ryou glared, but continued on without pause.

"Regardless of what _you_ think, there are still many other things that the two of you could be doing instead of sitting on the couch the entire day eating one another's faces," He said.

"Nothing I can think of would be better," Bakura retorted, grinning evilly.

"How about a date? That's what normal couples do. Go see a movie, or take a romantic stroll, or get a bite to eat! Something!" Ryou suggested. Bakura laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, that sounds like a _brilliant_ plan," He uttered sarcastically. "'Here Marik, let's go out for dinner. You can get a sandwich and I'll go have a little run in the woods and see what I can find out there.' Wonderful Ryou, wonderful."

Ryou grimaced. "All right, that last one was rather distasteful. But you could still go out and do other things! Marik, wouldn't you like to do something other than sit on a couch all day?" Suddenly two sets of eyes were on him, and, to his perpetual disgust, he blushed again.

"Well… I wouldn't mind going on a date," He admitted nervously. He cursed himself mentally after realizing that yes, that very sentence had indeed come from his own mouth. What was happening to him? He was turning into a blushing schoolgirl with a crush! Meanwhile, outside of Marik's inner dilemma, Bakura was staring at him with a horrified expression on his face.

"You actually agree with him? I thought you were on _my_ side!" He cried out in dismay. He withdrew his arms from Marik's sides in a hurry, causing said boy to look up at him.

"Well it would be nice to do something different once in a while," He pointed out. Bakura scowled, knowing he'd been beaten. Ryou smiled and Marik just sat there, wondering what this all meant now. So would they be going on a date? His attention was brought back to the two twins when he noticed the older one's sour expression abruptly split into a malicious grin as he looked at the younger. Now Ryou seemed weary.

"You know Ryou, I think a date would be a prefect thing for us to go on. We'll go see a movie. Doesn't that sound nice? But do you know what would be even better? If we were to turn this little outing into a double date. You can come along too, and Marik will bring that psycho brother of his along with him," Bakura suggested sadistically.

"Why Malik?" Marik asked, feeling like he was missing something here. Maybe it was the way Bakura and Ryou continued to look each other dead in the eyes, as if they were having a silent battle of wits that he wasn't a part of. Was that how twins were supposed to act? Or was that just a habit one gained after living with another person for such long time? Either way, he was sure that he and Malik didn't act that way. He was almost never able to deduce what was going on in the other's head. He didn't know if that was a good thing, or bad thing. What would it be like, he wondered, to know another person so well that it rendered words as useless?

"Ohh, you don't know yet?" Bakura asked, never taking his eyes away from Ryou's. Marik was brought back to the conversation by the sound of his voice. He watched the two of them carefully, not wanting to miss anything.

"Bakura!" Ryou said sharply.

"You see, dear little Ryou has a crush on your crazy brother. And I'm sure he would just _love_ it if he were to go with the three of us to see a movie. Wouldn't you Ryou?" Bakura questioned. Ryou's face became one of utter mortification, and Marik just stared for a moment while the information he had just received slowly came together in his head. With that missing piece of the puzzle it all made sense to him. Now he understood why Ryou was nicer than should be expected to his brother, and why he didn't seem to mind being alone with him.

"Malik?" He asked, trying to hold back his laughter. "Oh man Ryou, you actually like Malik? I don't think there's _anyone_ who actually _likes_ Malik!"

"Well Ryou does, so don't you think the two of them should go out on a date as well? Get to know each other a bit better?" Bakura questioned.

"Oh definitely! Don't worry Ryou, I'll get him to go! Don't worry at all, I've got it under control!" Marik sniggered.

"Oh stop it! You're teasing me!" Ryou pouted.

"No we're not! We're just helping you get your man!" Bakura exclaimed.

"Both of you are horrible!" Ryou cried out. He stood up briskly and walked out of the room, taking the glass of water he had so generously brought for Marik with him. The moment he was gone Marik couldn't hold his sniggers back any longer, and both he and Bakura burst out into mad laughter. The image of Ryou's flustered, bright red face was sill fresh in both of their minds, causing them to laugh even harder at his embarrassment.

"Oh man, I can't believe you hadn't told me that before," Marik said once the laughter had faded. He took in a deep breath of air and exhaled, then settled against the couch.

"I had to wait until the perfect moment. Otherwise it wouldn't have been as fun," Bakura smiled. "Now, do you think you can actually persuade your brother to go?"

"Of course I can," Marik grinned.

"Good. Make sure he comes then. Don't tell him about Ryou's little crush however," Bakura instructed.

"Hmm, why?"

"Because I want to _tease_ my brother, not make his depressed. Just don't tell him."

"Aww, how cute. Bakura's worried about his little brother. What a nice, caring, older brother you are," Marik teased. Bakura gave him a look, but he ignored it completely. "Just wait until I tell Malik he needs to behave himself because Bakura's worried for Ryou."

"Do that, and I'll be sure to take advantage of you at the movie theater in front of him," Bakura smirked. Marik frowned. Malik was already almost positive that he and Bakura were doing things together, and he certainly did not need any hard evidence of this matter. And then he'd tell Isis and Rishid, and while Rishid wouldn't be any trouble, Isis would want to verify with him that he was indeed gay, and then she'd want to talk to both he and Bakura about their relationship together, and the kinds of things they were doing together and no! That would _not_ be happening! He wouldn't let it!

"So I take it that I've won?" Bakura chuckled.

"Shut up," Marik growled, and because he didn't have any other way of making sure the other remained quiet, he sealed their lips together with a short kiss. Of which Bakura was very eager to participate in. Before it could get too deep, he broke away, to Bakura's disappointment.

"Do we really have to talk?" He pouted.

"Yes," Marik grinned. "Seriously now though, you and Ryou are really close, aren't you? Even if you say otherwise, you really care about him, don't you?"

"Well we've bother been alive for quite some time now, and most of that time we've been together. Actually there's only a handful of times I can think of where we've been separated," Bakura mused. He lost the hungry look in his eyes and his voice became more subdued as he traversed his memory. Marik listened intently. He was sure that Bakura had a lot of interesting things to talk about, and he wanted to hear it all. He was sorely disappointed when instead of talking, the other smiled and kissed him on the lips once more.

"No! I want to hear about it!" Marik pouted. Bakura sighed.

"We've been through a lot together you know, and it would take a while to tell you everything. So how about some other time?" He suggested.

"You promise?" Marik questioned skeptically. Bakura kissed him twice in quick succession and wrapped his arms around his sides to pull his body closer.

"I promise," He vowed solemnly.

"Okay then," Marik gave in, smiling gently. He gave in to Bakura's tiny kisses and allowed himself to be satisfied with this answer. If he got to know, he didn't mind waiting a little bit. And what a wonderful way to make the time pass.

00000

"But Maliiiiiiiik!" Marik whined as he followed his twin around the house. First to the kitchen to grab a drink, and then up the stairs into his room where he placed the drink down, then to the bathroom, then back into his room.

"I already told you no," Malik deadpanned.

"Come on! Would it really kill you to go see a movie?" Marik demanded.

"Possibly," Malik responded dryly. Marik huffed and grabbed his look-alike by the arm and began to pull on him.

"And what exactly is this supposed to accomplish?" The other questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Just say you'll go! It won't be that bad, I promise! And then I'll stop pestering you!" Marik whined. Malik rolled his eyes and, steadfastly ignoring Marik, walked across his room to where he'd placed his water and drank some of it. A stream of the liquid trailed down his chin, and he licked it when he put the glass back down. Then, for no apparent reason, he grabbed the hemline of his black tank and stripped it off over his head, then lied down on his bed, taking Marik along with him.

Marik landed on his brother's bare chest with a grunt. He looked at his twin a bit uncomfortably, and then spoke.

"And what exactly was the point of that?" He asked. Malik smirked.

"You were clinging to me and made it hot. I thought this might make you leave," He answered truthfully. Marik frowned. He looked at his brother's bare chest –the mirror image of his own- and felt a vague sense of discomfort. It was too similar. He didn't like it. But he wasn't going to leave, because that was what Malik wanted him to do, and he wasn't going to let him win. Instead he released his grip on Malik's arm and lied down on the bed. He propped himself up on Malik's chest and looked him in the eyes.

"Come with us to the movie theater," He said.

"Why do you think I would want to put myself through that? A date with you and both of them? It really would kill me," Malik argued. Marik sighed and rested his head on his brother's chest. He wasn't going to lose… He wasn't! Even if he had to do _that_…!

Mind made up to go through with his own awful plan, Marik raised his head off his brother's chest and pouted slightly.

"But Malik… I _need_ you to go. Bakura is going too, and what if he tries to do something bad to me in the movie theater while it's all dark?" He pouted. Inside his head he winced. There went his pride. Right out the window. Oh, Bakura was going to _pay_ for making him do this.

"You're old enough to stick up for yourself now, aren't you big brother?" Malik questioned. One of his bronzed hands moved to the side of Marik's face and cupped his cheek. His lilac eyes widened and his first reaction was to pull away as quickly as he could. He reigned in that initial impulse however, and allowed the hand to remain there.

"Besides," Malik was continuing, "don't you like it when he does those things to you? Those marks on your neck sure seem to suggest that you do." Now Marik blushed and _really_ wished he did not have to do this, but he remained where he was. This was all necessary! He had to win!

"Pleeeaasseeee…? Brother? I need you to do this for me," Marik pouted. He stared at his brother hard, hoping that it would work. If it didn't, he didn't know what else he could do.

"If it will get you to shut up and stop disgracing yourself, then fine," Malik scowled, apparently tiring of all this. Marik broke out into a huge grin.

"Yay!" He cheered. Malik scoffed and none too nicely pushed him off the bed.

"Just leave. The way you're acting is disgusting. I feel like I'm going to be sick," He grimaced. Marik grinned and got up off the ground, wisely deciding that for the time being as least, he would ignore being pushed off the bed. He headed for the door of the room, and turned around to tell Malik when the movie would be. Malik had turned over in his bed, and when Marik saw this his words dried up in his throat. He felt the same feeling of discomfort all around him again, and he quickly left the room before it began to choke him. He practically ran to his own room, and when he reached it he sat on his bed and breathed deeply. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, but all he could see was Malik. Malik without his shirt.

00000

The next day at school Marik told Bakura that he had succeeded in making Malik go with them to the movies. He conveniently left out the part explaining how exactly he had managed to accomplish that. Luckily for him, Bakura didn't seem to care about any of that, just that Malik was indeed going.

So once that was settled, their tentative date to go to the movies today became concrete, and for the rest of the day Marik was unable to think of anything else but that. He knew it was stupid to get so excited about going on a date, but he couldn't help it. He would actually be doing something with Bakura besides fooling around on the couch. Somehow, that made it all the more precious. This really seemed to cement the idea that the two of them were actually going out, not just messing around because they wanted to.

Almost immediately after thinking this, Marik smacked his forehead and groaned. He was turning into a girl. What he had _really_ meant to say was that it would be fun to see how Malik and Ryou reacted when they were stuck with each other in the theater. Yeah, that was it. No girly mushy crap for him.

So for the rest of the day Marik tried hard to keep his mind off Bakura and the movies. And for the most part, due to the large quantities of work he did in his classes today, he was successful. He kept his mind off Bakura and instead concentrated solely on his schoolwork. At least until he returned home and had nothing else to occupy his mind with. He briefly contemplated if he should change outfits before smacking his head against his wall and cursing himself for once again acting like a silly girl. This damn night was causing him more stress than it was worth.

In order to prevent himself from thinking such unseemly thoughts, Marik decided to take a nap until it was time to go. He dropped his book bag off on his floor and briefly glanced at his homework before heading to his bed. He would do all that stuff later. He sank gratefully into his plush mattress and stretched languidly, smiling as he snuggled against his pillow. He felt quite tired now that he was actually in his bed, and a nap sounded like a great idea, just what he needed. He yawned and threw his sheet over him, then hugged his body closely. And then Malik burst into his room.

"Ow-! What the hell? What's going on?" Marik asked as he rubbed his now sore head. He had somehow managed to bump his head against his wall when he sat up to look at Malik.

"I just had a heart attack," His brother informed in a monotone voice. Marik stared at him. Malik stared back, completely stone-faced. Marik continued to stare. And then he burst out laughing. A look of confusion passed over Malik's face, and that only caused Marik's laughter to increase. He laughed so much that his sides started to hurt, and he kept laughing even as he pressed his hands to his side to attempt to alleviate some of the pain there. When his laughter finally died down, he looked at Malik and noticed the petulant little scowl he had plastered on his face, and his laughter started up all over again.

"I fail to see the humor in this situation. What if I had really been dying?" Malik questioned in a bland tone.

"That's why it's funny!" Marik burst out. Malik's scowl deepened, and Marik tried to control his giggles for a moment as he elaborated. "I mean, if you were _really_ dying, you certainly… certainly… pffft…! Certainly wouldn't have come in here with such a bored expression! You'd have been… ha ha ha ha! Ahh, you'd have been panicking! Are you really that desperate not to go?"

"You have no idea," Malik drawled.

"Well you already said that you would, so you have to now," Marik reasoned when his laughter had finally ceased. Even so, he could not help the random giggle that would interrupt his speech every now and then. "It's not going to be that bad, okay? Just pay attention to the movie, and if that sucks, pretend you're doing something fun."

"You mean like murdering you?" Malik asked. The beginning of a grin was inching across his face, and Marik shivered. Yeah, sometimes he was glad he didn't know what was going on inside his brother's head.

"Whatever floats your boat. We'll be going later tonight, so just make sure you're ready by then. Bakura and Ryou are coming to get us," Marik said. Malik grinned widely and headed out of his room.

"Oh, I _will_ be," He muttered darkly.

00000

Malik was _not_ happy. In fact, one could almost describe his mood as murderous. If only he _could_ murder them all and dispose of their bodies without being caught. It would make the evening _so_ much better.

His brother had run into his room and dragged him outside of the house only moments ago. Waiting outside for the Egyptians had been the very people Malik did not want to see. Both twins were sitting in a fancy red convertible, and he briefly wondered how the hell they had acquired _that_ before the repulsive sight of the asshole mauling his brother ruined his mood even further. He turned away angrily from the disgusting sight and calmed himself by picturing his hands around the asshole's neck and throttling him. Just because he had said he didn't care what his brother did with his "friend" did not mean he wanted to see it openly displayed in front of him.

"Bakura! Stop it! Not in front of my house you idiot!" He heard his brother hiss angrily. Taking that to mean it was now okay to look, Malik turned back around with a scowl on his face and glared heatedly at his brother and his companion. If that had been any indication of how the rest of the night was going to go, then Malik wondered just how Marik expected him to get through this night without actually killing someone. This was just asking for too much. He was already barely stopping himself from punching the oldest white-haired male, how did his brother expect him to control himself for the length of an entire movie?

"Hello!"

Malik's withering gaze briefly left Marik and Bakura as he looked to the side of him. The second twin was looking up at him and smiling. When he noticed that Malik was now paying attention to him, a faint red dusted his cheeks and he looked away shyly. Malik's scowl deepened. This person again.

"Ahh, so are going to the movies to us?" Ryou asked politely. Malik sneered.

"Why else would I be out here? Unless you mean to suggest I'm just indulging in my skills as a voyeur," He scoffed. Ryou seemed taken aback by that comment, and his blush increased much more. Malik watched this reaction with sadistic pleasure, and his mood improved just a little bit.

"I-I'm sorry! Th-That was a stupid question! Of course you must be going with us! What else would you be doing? I'm very sorry if I suggested otherwise!" Ryou apologized quickly. He continued to apologize non-stop, and when Malik could take it no longer, he brought two fingers up and placed them on Ryou's lips to silence the other boy.

"It's fine. Just… shut up, would you?" He suggested. He watched as Ryou's brown eyes trailed down to his lips, then as his cheeks turned a furious red. Malik derived a strange sort of enjoyment from this, and was about to say something else when the sound of the white-haired one's brother cut through the silence.

"If the two of you are done flirting perhaps we can get a move on?" The asshole teased. Malik snarled and turned to glare at him, while Ryou stuttered some excuse about how he hadn't been flirting.

"See, this will be fun," Marik remarked. His brother had moved to stand by his side without Malik's knowledge of it, and the sudden voice had startled him ever so slightly. Even so, he did not allow his surprise to break his glaring match with the asshole, although said asshole didn't seem to notice it was going on. He was still teasing his flustered brother. Which was fine with Malik. His lack of an opponent meant that he was clearly the winner here.

"Oh yes. So much fun," Malik uttered sarcastically. Marik just brushed off his sarcasm and led him to the car. The asshole was driving, and he made Marik sit up front with him. Malik and Ryou sat in the back, and when everyone was situated they set off.

The other three inhabitants of the car, excluding himself, all seemed to be having a good time. The two twins and his brother all talked about frivolous nothings, and laughed and smiled while Malik silently fumed in the back. He could not understand why his brother had wanted him to come along. It couldn't have been because he would have felt uncomfortable with just going by himself. For the past week now his brother had been visiting the house of these two every day after school. If he'd felt uncomfortable with them he wouldn't have done that. Nor would he be laughing in such a carefree way with them now. No, Marik did not feel uncomfortable in the least. And that wasn't surprising, because he never had.

Marik and he were different. Even back in Egypt when they had been the leaders of the Ghouls, Marik had always been better than he at talking with people. He was the one to go in with guns blazing and use violence when a gang didn't want to listen to them. But sometimes that wasn't always the best course of action, and that was where Marik came in. Marik was able to talk to a gang, and manipulate them into doing things favorable to the Ghouls. Malik was respected for his power, Mark for his silver tongue and trickery. And it was the same when they came here to Domino. Marik was the one to talk with others, to get to know them, to become their "friends." Malik could not do that. Anyone who tried to talk to him he would see as bothersome, and the sounds of their voices would irritate him to no end. Usually a conversation with him ended when he finally lost it and beat the other person up. Everyone learned the hard way not to talk to him, to just leave him alone. But Marik could actually stand to listen to their inane drabble and use it to his advantage. So there was no way he would believe his brother had dragged him along on this hellish outing because he felt uncomfortable. There had to be another reason.

He observed all three of them carefully as they drove, but he could not figure out what his brother's motive for bringing him along could be. All three were just talking socially, and enjoying their time. None of them dropped any sort of clue as to why he was here, did not even use his name other than to occasionally attempt to engage him in the conversation (not that it worked). Even so, he knew there had to be a reason behind this. There was no way Marik would have invited him along just for the hell of it, or to try to force him to get along with the two brothers. His brother would have known that was foolish and stupid and would not work. He didn't fit in with normal people, didn't want to either. So that would not have been the reason. But what was?

"Oh yay, we're here!" Ryou cheered suddenly, interrupting Malik's thought process. All four of them got out of the car, Malik with a huge scowl on his face. The moment he had gotten out, his brother had laughed like mad at him, followed shortly thereafter by the asshole. Even the younger white-haired twin had to stifle a chuckle. Apparently, due to the open roof on the car, the wind had messed up his hair.

Malik stormed away from the three of them angrily and headed into the theater. He paid for a ticket and then headed immediately to the bathroom. All the spikes in his hair had been messed up, and when he tried to fix it, it didn't work. The gel had lost its hold, leaving him to look like he had attempted to do his hair like normal, then got bored halfway through and just left it. Muttering darkly under his breath, Malik turned the faucets of the sink on and bent down to wash the gel out of his hair. Today was horrible enough without allowing his bedraggled state to cause more laughter from his brother and the asshole. If he was going to suffer through some movie, he was going to at least look presentable.

When he came back out of the bathroom Malik's hair was wet and hanging down around his shoulders, making him look more like his brother than ever before. This came as quite the surprise to both white-haired twins, who were unfortunately waiting outside for him with Marik.

"Wow, would you look at that? You're actually not that bad when you don't look like a psychotic porcupine," The asshole said appraisingly. "Actually, you look just like your brother. You know, I could get used to this, having two sexy Egyptians on my arms." He smirked at Malik, who continued to scowl.

"Unfortunately, unlike my brother, I have taste. And I would certainly _never_ hang onto you like he does," He replied irritable. Marik's happy expression fell ever so slightly, though he covered it quickly with a glare. Malik noticed it of course, but he did nothing about it. Instead he watched as Bakura lost his smirk and glowered at him, then put his arm around Marik's waist.

"Hmm, I think I'd rather have you anyways. Psychopath doesn't have much going for him other than looks," Bakura said to Marik. He kissed him lightly on the lips and Marik responded, deepening the kiss, then both of them broke away from each other and disappeared down the hall and into the room where their movie would be showing. Marik bristled angrily. He didn't want to be here. His hair was ruined, he was being forced to deal with these damn people, and he now had to witness his brother actually being comforted by that asshole and looking so damn happy. He didn't want to see that, didn't want to be here at all. Was this why Marik had told him to come? To piss him off?

"Ah, we should probably get going too," Ryou suggested, forcing Malik to focus on the boy in front of him. He sighed tiredly, they hadn't even gotten to the movie yet and he was already sick of all this. Was he really expected to last this entire night?

Malik scoffed at the other boy and stormed into the room angrily, Ryou running behind him to catch up. He sat purposely far away from his brother and the asshole, not wanting to spend the entire time here having to listen to them whisper to each other and kiss. The mere thought of it made him feel like puking. So when they say down a bit further away from the screen and on the left side of the theater, he made sure to sit right up close to the screen and directly in front of them. Now if he turned his head either way he wouldn't be able to see or hear them. He was slightly surprised when the asshole's younger brother came down to join him. Apparently it showed on his face, for when he looked at Ryou the other boy stiffened up for a moment.

"Ah, umm, if-if you'd like for me to leave I can. I just thought that maybe you'd want some company, but if you'd rather be alone I ca-"

"Just sit," Malik replied irritable, interrupting the boy's ramblings.

"S-sorry. I'll leave if I'm being a bother," Ryou stuttered. Malik ignored him. He shifted in his seat and put his feet up on the one in front of him and began to watch. The theater got darker and the commercials began to play.

"Your hair does look nice like that you know," The boy next to him spoke up suddenly. Malik looked at him and frowned. Was he actually trying to strike up a conversation with him? Better yet, why was he still sitting here next to him? Shouldn't he want to sit next to the other two? Surely they were more interesting than he.

"It looks better the other way," Malik answered gruffly, surprising both Ryou and himself. Neither was expecting him to actually join in the conversation.

"But it looks good this way too. It's nicer," Ryou smiled.

"I don't want to look 'nice.' I'm not a 'nice' person," Malik responded, annoyed that he was still talking back. The movie started then, and thankfully the theater lapsed into silence, the boy as his side as well. So far this was the best part of the night. Everyone was finally quiet and would leave him alone.

"I bet you can be. Nice, that it. I think everyone can be," Ryou spoke up. Malik looked at him. Instead of becoming more irritated by his talking, he suddenly grinned. Oh, how stupid and naïve this poor boy was. He should have gone to sit by this brother when he had the chance. Malik's grin widened as he leaner closer to Ryou in his seat. He moved his hand from his lap and touched Ryou's arm. He felt the boy's body stiffen and saw his brown eyes look at his hand. From there, his hand traveled to the boy's chest, past his collarbone, and came to a stop at his neck.

"Everyone is nice, huh? I'm afraid that you are very, _very_ wrong," Malik whispered into Ryou's ear. The boy shivered and his grin only widened. "There is no such thing as _nice _within me. I am darkness, hatred, and madness. So you see, you are completely wrong when you say that I must be _nice_." His hand tightened around the slender, pale neck and he chuckled lowly. "I have done things you could not possibly even _imagine_. I could kill you right now and feel absolutely no remorse for it." His tongue slid out of his mouth and quickly licked the ear of the boy next to him. He felt his body tense again, and with a laugh Malik let him go. His hand returned to his lap and Ryou gasped as air rushed into his oxygen-deprived lungs. Malik smiled. His mood was suddenly much better.

The movie continued to play in front of them, and Malik watched it with disinterest. Most of his attention was on the boy sitting next to him. He paid very close attention to him, wanting to see what he would do next. He was surprised, but also disappointed when he did nothing. He had expected to sense fear and apprehension, for the boy to move away from him surely, perhaps go and sit beside his brother. Instead, none of that happened. He could sense Ryou watching him, and it irritated him that his actions seemingly had no effect on the other.

"Why didn't you do it then?" Ryou asked suddenly, making Malik look at him. The movie was half over by this point, and most of it had been spent by both parties in silent contemplation of the other.

"Why didn't you kill me then?"

Malik turned around angrily, not wanting to be proven wrong. In the dark of the theater, Ryou's eyes seemed to glow a faint, dull red.

Later, after the horrible night was over, and Malik had returned to the comfort of his own room, he thought of it all again. Ryou had not been afraid of him. Not even when he'd had his hands around the boy's neck. threatening to kill him. He couldn't get it out of his mind. And the strangest part was, when he'd had his hands placed around that slender, creamy neck, he could not recall having felt a pulse beneath the cool, marble skin.

00000

It was slowly becoming dark when Marik returned home from seeing Bakura. They had gone to see the movie last week, and, despite everything, Marik thought the date had gone very well. Malik hadn't gone psycho at any point during the night, even though he had been annoyed, and Ryou had also appeared to have a good time. He wasn't too sure how that was possible, but oh well. Most of his time during he date had been spent… _preoccupied…_ with Bakura, or watching the movie. Once in a while though he had turned to look at the other two and see what they were up to. Every single time he'd looked, it seemed like the two teens were sitting there quietly, not talking at all. _He_ would have found it to be boring as hell, but whatever got Ryou off… He must have been into some weird shit. He _still_ couldn't believe that the other vampiric brother liked his mentally unstable twin.

He was still silently laughing at this surprising turn of events when he entered his house. Almost immediately his chuckles stopped when he heard rather loud, melodramatic wails coming from the kitchen. Malik happened to be leaving just as he was coming back, and the two of them bumped into each other.

"What's going on?" Marik asked, rubbing his now sore shoulder.

"Don't ask. Just don't," Malik responded, hand on his own shoulder as well.

"Well what is it? I mean man, is that Isis?" Marik asked, growing confused now.

"All right then. Don't say I didn't warn you," Malik smirked wearily, and then without another word left the house. Marik stared at the empty hallway for a moment longer, then sighed and took off his shoes. The horrible wailing sound was still coming from the kitchen, and despite Malik's warnings not to, that was where he headed.

When he entered the kitchen he discovered that the sound _was_ coming from Isis, who appeared to have collapsed haphazardly onto the floor in a crumpled heap. Her hands were at her eyes, which were overflowing with big tears. Rishid was kneeling behind her, apparently trying to comfort her, but to no avail. The entire scene reminded him of something out of a bad sitcom, and he began to wonder if he should try to make his escape before anyone noticed him. He could head back outside, find Malik and wreak havoc with him, come back later and lie and say he'd been over Bakura's longer than he thought. That could work! Sure! Now, to escape…

Aaaannnd… too late. Just as Marik turned to go, his shoe squeaked on the linoleum floor and Isis's eyes were instantly on him. She stared at him with a fierce glare, and then when she took notice of just whom he was, it melted away into her once-more sorrowful expression. She picked herself off the floor and ran to him, then practically _flung_ him into her chest. Her arms tightened around his skinny frame and _squeezed_. Marik was left with a mouthful of her cotton dress and a deep wondering of what the _hell_ had just happened.

"Oh Marik, Marik! It's terrible! Just terrible! Rishid! Tell him how terrible it is!" Isis commanded.

"It is indeed very terrible," Rishid said, sounding more relieved to be away from Isis than stricken by whatever "terrible" thing had happened.

"Oh Marik! Marik, Marik, Marik! My favorite brother, you'll help me though, won't you?" Isis tearfully questioned. Perhaps, Marik thought, if you would let me go so I could breathe correctly. Seeing as his face was still smothered by his sister's bosom, he tapped on her shoulder instead of voicing his thoughts.

"Oh right!" Isis exclaimed. She released him from her grasp and Marik stumbled away, breathing heavily. His face was dusted with a light blush and his hair and shirt were both rumpled. He smoothed them down with an annoyed huff and sent his sister a glare, which was promptly ignored. Said sister instead fixed him with a look of wide, tearful blue eyes. Oh the melodrama…

"Marik, you remember when we moved here I asked you and your brother to help me move the artifacts at the museum?" Isis asked. Marik nodded slowly, suddenly not liking the turn this conversation was taking. Oh, he remembered all right. That was where he had pilfered those ancient item things. He no longer carried any of them along with him (though Bakura still wore the damn Ring under his shirt), but was it possible that Isis had been in his room and found them? Not that she should have been in his room but-

"Well, and I don't know how anyone could have not noticed this beforehand and told me, goodness _knows_ they had enough time-! Ah, but the point I was getting to is that not all of these artifacts belonged to the museum. Some of them were personal items that had been given by their owners to the museum to be put on display for a set amount of time. Today it seems that one such owner came into the museum to see his artifacts, and found that they weren't out on display. He asked if they were in the back, but there was no file on them. When all the artifacts were transferred to the museum they were never checked into the system. We know that they _were_ there, but we can't find a trace of the now," Isis explained. Marik felt relieved. So they hadn't discovered that he was the one who'd taken them.

"I just wanted to ask you if you recalled having seen them, or knew if they'd been misplaced. The man who owns them was very mad that they had gone missing, and I don't know what he'll do if he doesn't get them back! Oh Marik, the museum could go down and I could lose my job! Oh, you'll help me, won't you Marik?" Isis pleaded, looking at him once more with big blue eyes. Funny, but she only got teary when she was looking for his support.

Well, what was he supposed to do about that? Malik had of course turned her down and quickly escaped before she could punish him for it. That meant that if he were to refuse as well, not only would he face his own punishment, but it would probably be doubly bad to make up for Malik's. But he was the one who had stolen them! He very well couldn't help turn himself in. Maybe he could sneak them into museum somehow and hope that the workers there would find them eventually…

"Marik?" Isis interrupted. Her hopeful, deceitfully cheerful voice cit through his inner debate and he looked up at his sister. Oh yeah. She was expecting an answer_ now_, wasn't she?

"Aaahhh… sure. Why wouldn't I help you?" Marik answered, smiling cheerfully. Isis smiled too, all tears forgotten now that she'd gotten his help of course. On the other hand, if he'd refused, her tears would have been gone then too. She'd be too busy killing him to worry about fake crying.

"Great! These are pictures of the artifacts that have gone missing!" Isis exclaimed, suddenly pulling photos out of gods knew where on her outfit. She _shoved_ them into Marik's face, and with a sigh he took a hold of them and shuffled through the pictures. Not that he needed to. He was more than familiar with all of them, seeing as they were stashed up in his room. Ohh, this was going to be _fun_. How the hell to get himself out of this mess, without letting everyone know that he was the one who'd taken them in the first place

He told Isis that he thought he remembered seeing the items at the museum here in Domino, but he wasn't exactly sure. He escaped with a promise to tell her if he remembered anything else, then locked himself up in his room and busied himself with a pretend test he had to study for. If Isis thought he was busy with schoolwork, she wouldn't bother him anymore about the museum thing. And maybe he could come up with some kind of idea of what to do about all this.

Far later on into the night, when Malik finally returned home, he made sure to twist the skin on his arm. Roughly. It was all his damn fault for not helping Isis to begin with. His brother punched him in the face as a result of that, but the aching in his jaw was totally worth it when he saw the giant bruise Malik had on his arm when they woke up the next day.

00000

The next day at school, during the first chance he got, Marik grabbed Bakura and dragged him by a pale arm into the nearest, and conveniently empty, bathroom. Once there, he checked all of the stalls to make sure it was indeed empty, Bakura watching him with interest the entire time.

"All right, I need you to give me the Ring back," Marik said once he was _positive_ the place was empty. This wasn't how he had wanted to do this, but if he asked for it back at Bakura's house, Ryou might notice, and he did not want that. Ryou was on his brother's side. He doubted it, but what if the innocent looking little vampire decided to get into good favors with his brother by telling him what he'd seen? "Oh Malik, you'll never guess what I saw Marik with!" No, better to just not even get him involved.

"_This_ is why you dragged me into an empty bathroom?" Bakura asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I mean really, _this_? I thought something _interesting_ was going to happen."

"Stop being perverted. I need it back, this is important! The person who owns it is pissed that all of his things have disappeared!" Marik explained.

"So what?" Bakura drawled lazily, obviously not understanding the importance here. "Someone is always pissed off when his or her stuff gets stolen. No reason to give it back. If everyone did that, this world would fall apart. _I_ certainly wouldn't be able to exist, if I were to give back the life I'd sucked out of everyone."

"You don't understand! It's not that simple!" Marik scolded. "If this guy doesn't get his things back, Isis could get into trouble. And if he's really serious about finding who took them, he might look into the employees, and that's something I'd rather not have happen."

"Well what if I don't want to give it back? I rather like it," Bakura argued.

"Just give it back Bakura! I need it," Marik growled.

"Hmm, how about you come take it?" The other male suggested, his eyes flashing a deep red. Marik knew immediately that this was some half-formed plan the vampire had concocted for some purpose, and that if he did try to get the Ring back he'd be falling for it, but he had to. He needed to get it back with all the other Sennen Items so he could return them to the museum somehow. So without hesitating he walked over to Bakura.

He made it all the way in front of the older man without anything happening. Feeling encouraged by that, Marik raised his arms to Bakura's neck and took hold of the string the Sennen Ring was tied to. The moment his fingers grazed against it Bakura pounced. One moment Marik was standing in front of Bakura, in the next he was pushed up against the wall with his hands pinned up over his head, Bakura in front of him, grinning lecherously.

"Oh, look what I caught," He taunted huskily.

"Will you cut it out already? I'm not playing some kind of game with you Bakura! I _need_ that Ring! _And_ you cheated!" Marik growled. Bakura's eyes flashed red again and he smirked. He leant in close to Marik's neck, close enough for his lips to brush against the sensitive skin there. And although he knew he couldn't give in, Marik could already feel some part of him melting into Bakura's hands, ready to allow him to do whatever he wanted.

"Hmm, you say you aren't playing a game, and then accuse me of cheating. Excuse me, but I'm getting mixed messages here Marik. And I don't recall you ever telling me not to take advantage of my superior speed and strength," Bakura hissed seductively. He could feel those sinister lips curl up into a grin against his neck, and then suddenly there was a hand on his chest, moving slowly down to the end of his shirt.

"Just… get off me!" Marik growled. He struggled again Bakura's vice-like grip, but escape was impossible. Bakura chuckled against the side of his neck, and then opened his mouth and clamped down on the skin there, setting to work on creating another mark for everyone to see. The hand on his abdomen slid tauntingly down under the shirt and then traced slowly up his skin, sending shivers racing through Marik's spine. Against his will, Marik's eyes fluttered close and he tilted his head to the side, allowing Bakura to have more room at his neck.

Bakura suddenly bit down sharply into his neck at the same time his wandering hand twisted one of his nipples. Marik cried out in pain, but a hazy wave of pleasure enveloped him after that. Bakura continued to kiss and to nibble and to suck on his skin, all the while his hand abusing his nipples with pinching and twisting, creating such an interesting blend of pain and pleasure that Marik almost gave in right there. Somehow, he managed to fight against his desire and he opened his hazy eyes, blinked a few times to get back into focus.

He couldn't surpass Bakura in strength. That much was obvious. If he tried to break away from the vampire he would not get anywhere. He had to surprise him, make him let go of his wrists. Marik grinned inwardly, and then without warning raised his leg and kneed Bakura in the chest. That certainly did the trick. Bakura backed away from him sputtering, hands now both across his stomach. Marik smiled viciously, and before the other could see, he tore the Ring off Bakura's neck. He darted to the door to escape, but Bakura recovered before that, and he found himself once more pinned against the wall.

"Now that wasn't very nice Marik. You shouldn't do things like that, unless you _want_ to make me angry," Bakura whispered silkily into his ear. Marik scowled.

"So I should just allow you to play with me as you will?" He asked coldly. Bakura raised his head and looked him in the eye after hearing that.

"You're adorable when you pout," He smiled, and then connected their lips together. Despite his anger at the other, Marik eagerly participated in the kiss. He allowed Bakura to enter his mouth without a fight, and rubbed his tongue against the intruding one. He both heard and felt Bakura moan into the kiss, and the sound excited him even further. Bakura released both his hands and wrapped an arm around Marik's waist to pull him closer. The other went to his face and brushed the soft skin there. Marik moaned and shifted in his embrace, bringing his leg to rest between Bakura's, and allowing them to get even closer. His own hands entwined themselves in Bakura's long white tresses, and he pulled on them gently.

"See, isn't this a much better alternative to what you called me in here to do?" Bakura asked lowly when their lips separated for air.

"Hmm, you seemed to enjoy being able to do whatever you wanted with me though. Sadistic vampire," Marik murmured, inching closer and pressing their lips together once more. He felt Bakura hum at the back of his throat in agreement. Then, without warning his sharp teeth came down on Marik's wandering tongue and sliced the organ. The hot coppery taste of blood entered his mouth, and pain assaulted his nerves. Marik tore away from the kiss a bit angrily, and brought his hand up to his lips to wipe away the blood that had escaped his mouth.

"What was that?" He demanded. Bakura smirked and allowed his eyes to turn permanent red and his fangs to slide out of his gums. Marik felt an irrational shudder of fear hit him. He knew Bakura would not do anything to harm him, but the vampire was exactly that –a vampire- and he wasn't always ale to control himself around blood. And here he was, all alone and helpless. He was defenseless, his life practically in Bakura's hands. Realization of how completely _isolated_ he was at the moment sent a shiver of pleasure straight to his groin, and he felt repulsed with himself. How disgusting, becoming aroused at such a thing…

"Mmmm, less talk, more kissing," Bakura purred huskily. Once more he took a hold of Marik's wrists and slowly raised them over their heads. They were so close that Marik could feel the hot puffs of Bakura's breath on his skin, and all of his nerves tingled. His entire body was aflame with heat, and his skin was _burning_ where his body touched Bakura's. He looked up into the other's eyes and saw only fiery desire thee. He moaned softly, and his hips suddenly bucked, rubbing lecherously against Bakura's own. Before he could become embarrassed over his behavior, his attention was once more fully on the man in front of him. He leaned in closer and licked away the small traces of blood that lingered on Marik's lips, and then reconnected them in their most passionate of kisses so far.

He could taste the coppery feel of his blood in his mouth, and Bakura's own special unique flavor, unlike anything else he had ever tasted before and too complex to be described. He could feel Bakura's tongue in his mouth, and Bakura's hand on his body, once clenching his wrists, and the other creating that wicked feeling of pleasurable pain once more. He was on fire and he was burning, and oh, he was falling, falling, and he did not care at all. He wanted more of this, to _feel_ more, to feel everything. The need to break apart for air came too soon, far too soon, and he was left feeling weak.

"More," Marik panted, uncaring of how his voice trembled and he _weak_ he sounded.

"You seem to be quite the masochist yourself, you know," Bakura chuckled darkly. He had more control over himself than Marik, but he did not miss the _strain_ on his words, signifying that he too, was having a difficult time.

"Shut up," Marik commanded.

"As you wish." Bakura's eyes twinkled strangely, and he leaned down to claim Marik's bruised lips once more. His tongue skillfully maneuvered around Marik's mouth, seeking out all the traces of blood he could find. And then when that was done, he pulled the cut tongue into his mouth and sucked on it, coaxing out all the blood he could get.

Marik moaned loudly when Bakura released his mouth and then attacked the unmarked side of his neck with small bites and licks. He was thankful for the wall behind him, for if it were gone, he was sure he would have collapsed to the floor by now. The hand on his chest moved down to his abdomen and out from under his shirt, then further down more and lingered on the button of his pants.

"Ahh… Bakura… Nnnh… You can't do that here," Marik protested half-heartedly. His mind was in a haze and he knew that they were going too far now, but somehow he could not find it in himself to care.

"You said you wanted more, didn't you? And you can't go back to class in _that_ condition, looking so delectable and out of it the entire time. Every single eye would be on you, and then I'd have to kill them all. You are _only_ mine and I am the _only_ one who should see you in such a state. So allow me to help…" Bakura purred in his ear. Marik felt his resistance crumble, and he nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Bakura smirked deviously, and he allowed his pale, deft fingers to brush teasingly over the front of Marik's pants, causing the boy to moan softly, and lean against his body for support. Bakura's fingers unbuttoned his pants…

Both males were too far engrossed in their own actions to hear the door to the previously empty bathroom open. By the time the sound of footsteps registered in their minds it was already too late. An unsuspecting student was standing in front of them staring, face a mixture of shock, disgust, and mortification.

"On second thought, maybe I don't have to use the bathroom at all," He announced loudly, then quickly scurried out of the room, intent on banishing the image he'd just witnessed from his mind. Namely, the image of the two males pressed close to each other with not even an _inch_ of space separating their bodies, the one against the wall with his hands pinned above his head and a dark blush adorning his face, and the other with his hands poised over the first guy's crotch. Oh, and let's not forget the entwined legs, and the lust-driven looks in both of their eyes. As if failing his Physics test this morning wasn't bad enough, now he was sure he'd be seeing mental images of _that_ all day too… Oh, today was just _not_ his day…

Bakura and Marik both remained frozen in place for some time after the unfortunate student left, neither of them quite sure of what exactly had happened. Marik was the first to come to his senses, and he pushed himself off the wall and away from Bakura with a mortified shriek. Bakura came to after that, and he briefly considered continuing where they'd left off _before_ they'd been interrupted. Then he noticed Marik's agitated state and decided suggesting that option would _not_ earn him any favors in the future. Damn. Marik might be fine now, but _he_ was still horny as hell.

"_How_ could that have happened? _How?_ Ohhh, and now it'll make its way through the school, and everyone will know! Malik will hear of it for sure! Someone will say something to him, confuse him with me, and then he'll know if it and he'll make fun of me and my life will be over! I knew it wasn't a good idea! Oh, I knew it, I _knew_ it! And now my life is over!" Marik wailed.

"Isn't that a bit _too_ dramatic? I'm sure he's not going to say anything to anyone. He's probably trying to forget it even-"

Marik rounded on Bakura before he could even _think_ about finishing his sentence, and looked at him with such an intense, smoldering stare that Bakura actually backed up.

"This is all _your_ fault," he growled. "If you would have just given me the Ring in the first place, this would have never happened! You're so perverted!"

"Well you didn't seem to mind when I had you against the wall there, unless that moaning was supposed to be a form of protest," Bakura muttered quietly. Not quietly enough however, for when Marik heard his eyes practically lit up with uncontained ire.

"You…! You know what, I'm not going to your house today!" Marik spat. And with that, he marched out of the bathroom, clutching the Ring tightly in his hand, presumably headed off to his class. And Bakura was left alone in the bathroom, feeling quite stunned and wondering if there was any way he could have responded that would not have risked incurring the wrath of the other. Probably not. Hmm… he wondered if he could find the student who had caused all of this to happen. Maybe he could teach him a lesson about butting in where he was not wanted. That cheered him up a bit, and he too left the bathroom, a devious smirk on his face

00000

"Ahh, what a surprise to see you here on the bus with the rest of us. I guess that means today you won't be going to your love's house, huh?" Mali sneered when Marik sat down next to him on the bus later that day.

"Oh shut up. It's not like I go over there every single day or something," Marik snapped. Malik quirked an eyebrow at that statement and looked at him with an amused expression.

"Are we talking about the same person here? Because I believe you _have_ been going to his house every day as of late. So why not go there today as well? Unless maybe you had a lover's quarrel," He commented, sounding all too thrilled at the idea.

"Stop saying that word. And no, we did not have a fight. I just wanted to go home today, is there something wrong with that?" Marik asked irritably. Malik smirked happily, saying all he needed to with that stupid grin of his. Marik felt like punching it off his face, but figured it wouldn't be a god thing to do here on the bus. Best to wait for when they got off. So he leaned against the seat and closed his eyes and waited for when they would get off. Malik remained silent beside him, and he was thankful for small favors.

When the bus neared their stop, both twins got their things ready and stepped off. They walked in silence past busy streets, not bothering to joke around or jeer and comment on passersby as they usually did. Both of them noticed the sleek black car in their driveway when they reached the house, and were instantly weary of it. Not many came to visit them because their house was so secluded, and the few people that did certainly wouldn't drive such a fancy vehicle. Both twins silently inspected it when they got closer. When neither found anything revealing about the owner on it, they both shrugged and continued on.

Closer to the door of the house they heard the voices of Isis and an unfamiliar man. Most likely the owner of the car. When they reached the voices they saw Isis and Rishid standing in front of the house, talking to a proper-looking man dressed in a gray business suit. When Marik and Malik approached, she and the man both looked at them.

"Ahh, these are my youngest brothers, Marik and Malik. Both of you, this man is Mr. Gourou. He's the one who owns the artifacts we're looking for," Isis introduced when the two of them neared. Both twins caught the tepid, formal tone of her voice, and their initial dislike of the man deepened. It was not like Isis to be so aloof when dealing with newcomers. Marik especially felt weary, as one of the artifacts that rightfully belonged to this wan was now residing in his bag. He involuntarily brought it closer to his body.

"Good day to the two of you. I'm glad I was able to meet all of you at one time. If I've been given he correct information, the two of you helped move the displays at the museum, correct?" The man asked.

"What does it matter to you?" Malik asked coolly. If Isis's own unfriendly behavior towards the man wasn't enough to base her dislike of him off of, then the fact that she did not scold Marik for acting so rudely was more than enough proof. Marik wondered what had been going on before they arrived. Something about this Gourou man annoyed Isis enough to not be civil with him, though what could it be?

"I just wanted to ask all of you some questioned, and thought it would be easiest if you were all here and accounted for," Gourou said and smiled. His smile was cold and unfriendly, and did not reflect in his cool blue eyes. In those eyes Marik could see the way he looked at all of them, calculating and distrustful, as if he viewed them all as a bunch of thieves and liars and had to use his wits to determine which was the correct one. He didn't trust any of them all right, and Marik thought that he'd probably been hassling Isis about whether any of them had taken his precious items. He clutched his bag tighter.

"I don't think we have to answer any of your questions if we don't want to, and I don't know about the rest of my family, but I'd rather not. I have better things to do with my time," Marik remarked, grinning evilly. Malik looked at him for a second, and then he too was grinning that demented smile of his.

"Yes, I think you should go now. You've overstayed your welcome," Malik added. The man scoffed and his smile disappeared into a grim look of satisfaction.

"Surely you wouldn't mind answering some questions if you have nothing to hide…?" He trailed off meaningfully. His blue eyes locked with Marik's, whose own hardened. He did not like this man, not at all. And if he was willing enough to come all the way out here and openly confront them like this, then there was no doubt in Marik's mind that he'd be willing to go further than that too…

"Well well, you guys seem to be having quite the party going on, don't you?"

Their fight was prevented from going any further by the most unlikely of sources. At the sound of the voice, all of them turned to see the newcomer that had shown up. It was a person well known to the Ishtars, for they had worked together on several different occasions. Dressed in her usual purple color, was a tall, blonde woman beautiful enough to be a model. A deep sense of discomfort hit Marik the moment he laid eyes on her. Her name was Kujaku Mai, and he knew her to be a very efficient hunter of vampires. If she was here now, that could only mean bad news.

* * *

Ta-da! That was it! And as I said at the beginning, I really feel that this chapter was just kind of "mehhhh..." Sorry about that. I suppose it was a necessary chapter to bridge the stuff that happened in the last one (plot stuff I mean), with stuff that will happen in the ones to come (more plot stuff). So the chapter wasn't very interesting, but necessary. Hopefully the next one will be better, and take a lot less time for me to get it out too. Although, knowing me, it'll probably still take a while...

So on to more interesting things! Random Gourou person! First off, I called him "Mr." I haven't been using "-san" (not that I can remember anyways, and if I did ever, it wasn't important), or any other suffixes, so I'm not going to start now. It won't even matter that much anyways, as most of the time he'll just be called "Gourou." I did take the name from some unimportant villian in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (can't even remember which one now), but it wasn't the villian I was looking for. I wanted to use the man who takes Yuugi's puzzle to use in the Egyptian exhibit and then decides to not give it back (think that's where Shaadi appears too), but I couldn't find the chapter it was in. (And then I realized "Wait a moment. Does that even happen in the manga? Or does it only happen in season 0?") Either way, it was taking much longer than it needed to, so I picked a random name, and Gourou it was. Yaaaaayyyy.

Last thing (and this is completely unrelated to the fic), but the anime I mentioned I've gotten obsessed with at the top, I just wanted to know if anyone has watched it/read it. So, has anyone read or watched Kuroshitsuji? (Black Butler in English) If so, OMG. I heart it now. A lot. Ahh, it's so wonderful! (I could obsess soooo much more now, but I won't, promise) Mmm, so I've kind of really gotten into that, and want to write stuff for it (already wrote a oneshot actually), so if I decide to do so, that will probably take some of my time. But I shall continue working on this fic, so fear not. Just maybe not as much as before (because you know, my updates were fast in the past, pfft). I realized the other day I was about halfway done with this thing, and got all excited because it'll be the first multi-fic I actually complete. So I definitely shall complete it!

Okay, random babbling section done now! If you so choose to, please review, tell me what you thought about the chapter! Maybe you didn't find it to be as dry as I did! Either way, please review, and thank you! I'll see you all again in chapter 12, which shall hopefully be much sooner in coming out than this one!


	12. Moving Things Forward

Hello there everyone! It's been a while XP Don't worry though, this chapter is very long, I think, my third longest? And there's smut! If you don't want to read that, don't worry. It'll be pretty easy to see when it's coming. Okay, so real quick. I've modified a few things in the previous chapters. Nothing content-wise, just cleaned them up a bit and made them easier on the eyes. I have also deleted Shaadi and Mahaado from the story. Why? Because I was going to do something with them in the original plan, but then I figured it was completely unimportant and unnecessary, so I just deleted them. Also, remember Isabelle from the previous chapter? Well, I've changed her name to Natalie. Why? Because I realized it was just a bit too similar to Bella from _Twilight_. And no offense to the people who like that, but I personally hate it XD So yeap, that was changed.

**Disclaimer!:** Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

* * *

The moment Mai announced her presence to the Ishtars, all the tension that had been surrounding the family as a result of Gourou's impromptu visit hastily dissipated. The man who had brought with him the trouble and agitation left only a few moments after Mai's arrival, giving them all a cold look of displeasure before driving away in this car. Marik felt like trying to hail a taxi and follow the man, find out more about him, but for the moment Mai was more important. She'd been here for at least half an hour now, and Marik still had no idea what her objective was. She wouldn't have come without a reason.

His cool lavender gaze trailed over her figure as his ears paid enough attention to her speech to catch if she said anything important. Mai was the same as ever, it seemed. He'd seen her last a little over a year ago in Egypt. He didn't think anyone had told her that they were moving or to where, but apparently such things did not matter, as she was here anyways. She had a habit of showing up in places where no one expected her to be. And she _still_ hadn't explained why she was here. Whenever Isis or Rishid made a hint at inquiring the reason, she just casually danced around the issue with laughter and moved onto a new topic of conversation. Yup, exactly the same as before. Dammit.

He _really_ wished that they would get to the point already. The Ishtar family had known Mai for around seven years now, had even worked with her on several occasions. However, none of them could really call her a "friend." Mai was a self-proclaimed lone wolf, and had told them all in _numerous_ instances that she worked better by herself. She strove to remain far away from others, and if she _was_ forced to work with them, the minute the mission was over, she was gone. Malik absolutely hated her, though Marik felt that his brother also held some respect for the vicious and cold way in which the woman killed. Marik himself couldn't ever look at her without being reminded of unpleasant memories, though he did _try_ to like her. He wasn't sure how Isis and Rishid felt, but he was certain they couldn't exactly make themselves like Mai either. She was difficult to deal with, that was for sure.

"…course I'm not just here for a friendly visit," Mai was saying. Marik pulled himself out of his slowly darkening thoughts and paid close attention to the conversation happening in front of him. It seemed like they were getting somewhere.

"Well then, why are you here, Mai?" Rishid questioned quietly, finally speaking the question everyone wanted to know.

"Well like I said," Mai began, smiling. She leaned back in her chair and adjusted her shirt, taking her sweet time in answering. Letting everyone know that she didn't need to be telling them anything. "I'm certainly not here for a visit. It's all business. I heard from a reliable source that there were a few strange things happening in this city here."

"We haven't heard anything to suggest that there are vampires here," Isis intercepted immediately, a frown marring her features.

"Maybe not," Mai continued, "But I never said anything about vampires. Just that I'd heard some strange things." Here Marik mirrored his sister's frown. Of course Mai hadn't specifically said anything about vampires, but they all knew that was what she was alluding to. Her denying it now was just her way of trying to make them look foolish, in the same way that implying they could have missed a vampire in their own city did. This superior attitude of hers was just one of the factors that made getting close to Mai impossible.

"However," Mai said, "If there _were_ any vampires here, from what I hear, it would be somewhere from two to four. Certainly not that many. And there haven't been any bodies outside of the norm showing up, so it's possible that your own informer just didn't see anything as being wrong. Anyways, I'm just here to check a few things out. Since I'd heard you'd moved down here, I figured I'd stop by to say hello. You guys just up and moved without even telling me about it! Very cruel you know." Now Mai was pouting in her chair childishly, all seriousness long forgotten. Isis was still frowning though, and Marik's calculating gaze fluttered over to her.

"I'd like to know where you heard such things, but I doubt you'll tell me. However, if there is any suspicious activity going on in Domino, then we will take care of it. We're the ones that live here and have let these things escape out watch. We will be the ones to take care of it," Isis said. Mai laughed and shook her head.

"I don't think so. This is my info, my scoop, and my catch. I'll take care of it. I just stopped over to tell you all to let me know if you catch wind of anything."

"Well then I implore you let us help," Isis argued.

"No siree. You know I like to work alone. Having the four of you tag along is unnecessary and unneeded."

"It would be foolish to go by yourself though, especially if you are unaware of the exact number of enemies you may be facing," Rishid said from off to the side. Mai seemed to consider his words for all of five seconds before getting up and wandering to the stairway where Marik and Malik were sitting.

"All right. You, brat," She said, pointing. Marik gestured to himself, brows furrowed.

"Me?" He asked. Mai scoffed and shook her head.

"Not you-brat, the other one," She answered. The two twins glanced at one another briefly, and then Malik got up from his spot at the staircase and stood in front of Mai. He stuck his tongue out at her and smirked. If Mai was fazed at all by the crazed expression on his face, she certainly did not show it.

"Cute," She smirked. "So, you still hate me?"

"Of course," Malik responded eagerly.

"Good, then it's settled. I'll take him with me." Apparently Marik was not the only one surprised by this decision, as Isis got up from her seat and joined the two in the middle of the room, and even Rishid let a flicker of surprise cross his normally impassive face.

"I don't understand. Why would you take Malik with you? If you wanted someone to go with you, why not pick Marik? Or Rishid?" Isis questioned.

"Well they wouldn't be any help. No offense to the two of you, but you're both too soft." Mai explained.

"None taken," Marik responded, finding himself faintly amused, despite the situation. Sure, he didn't like hearing anyone call him "soft," but even if Mai _had_ picked him, he probably wouldn't have gone. Their last mission had taught him that he couldn't exactly kill vampires anymore. Although, that was only half of the problem. The other half of course being the vampires themselves…

"Malik, if I were injured, what would you do? Help me escape and treat my wounds, or go after the vampires and kill them?" Mai asked, smiling slightly. Malik wasted no time in responding to that inquiry.

"Leave you, of course. If you get injured then you deserve to die," He spoke, grin widening. Mai seemed to take it all in stride.

"And that's exactly why I'm taking Malik with me. It's just as he said. As vampire hunters, it is our job to kill that scum and protect humans from then. If I fail in my job, then I deserve whatever punishment I am given. I need someone to go with me who will finish what I failed to do. If my partner decided to help me instead of killing the vampires, then they would get away and live to kill more humans. That loss of life is unacceptable. That's why I want Malik to come with me. Marik and Rishid, the two of you are too nice. I don't expect to get into any troubles, but if I did, you'd both definitely stop to help me. This brat on the other hand, he's got the right attitude. Perfect for the job," Mai explained. Malik seemed to accept the entire thing as a compliment, and when Isis began to argue with Mai against this idea, he joined in on Mai's behalf, despite his hatred for the woman.

Marik got up silently and headed up the stairs to his room. It was fairly obvious early on in the argument that Isis was going to lose, and he doubted that there was anything else for him to learn from further conversation. Mai was definitely here to look for vampires, but she herself wasn't even sure if there were any. Marik didn't know what to think of that. His thoughts were a mess, and he was starting to feel the beginnings of what was sure to be one hell of a migraine.

What he needed to know was the nature of the information Mai had been told. She had said early on in the conversation that nobodies outside of the norm had shown up… The appearance of bloodless bodies and missing persons was usually a good indicator that a vampire was in town, but in this scenario, Marik didn't know whether the absence of such bodies was good news or not. There were no bodies, but yet Mai was here anyways… She wouldn't have come all the way out here without a good reason, he knew that much. So whatever she'd heard must have been good information. But the lack of bodies was certainly troubling… The only vampires he knew of in the area were, of course, Bakura and Ryou. And they didn't drink human blood.

When he entered his room, Marik took off his bag and carefully took out the Sennen Ring. The precious artifact shone merrily in the sun, but only for a moment. Soon it was hidden with its similar, ill-gotten comrades from the museum. He would have to deal with _that_ problem soon, but at the moment, he had a bigger one. What to do about his mess with Mai?

In all the years that he'd been a hunter, Marik didn't think that he'd ever encountered another vampire that did not drink human blood. Of course, never before had he actually gotten to know the vampire before killing it, so that wasn't to say that there hadn't been any. The only humane vampires he'd ever met were Bakura and Ryou. What were the chances of there being another one or two who also refrained from having human beings on their menu, living in the same area, no less? Whatever the odds, Marik didn't like them.

If Mai had somehow heard about Bakura and Ryou, then Marik had to tell them of course. And then they would leave… That was where Marik paused in his thoughts. They would have to leave. There was no way they could stay. If Mai found out that there were vampires, she would follow them until she was certain she had killed them. And to make matters worse, Malik was with her. Malik knew all about he and Bakura, even if Marik had never told him all the details. If _Malik_ found out… The thought, even left unfinished as it was, made Marik shiver, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Malik _could not_ find out. So then, he would have to tell them. Had to. But…

He knew that he _should_, but he didn't _want_ to. If he told them there was another hunter in the area that was searching for any clues leading to vampires, they would leave, simple as that. And Marik didn't want that. He liked Ryou, considered him to be a friend even, and then there was Bakura. Bakura, who he had this weird… thing with. He didn't want Bakura to go. He didn't want Ryou to leave either, but more than that, he really didn't wand Bakura to go. He didn't want Bakura to die either, but at the moment leaving seemed like the worst option. After all, Mai wasn't even sure there were any vampires here. All she had was speculation. He knew that he needed to warn Bakura and Ryou, but did he really need to do so right away? Mai had the word of some person and that was it. She really didn't _know_ anything. The only person who knew what the two white-haired teens were was him, and he wasn't going to tell anyone. Bakura and Ryou themselves had been alive for over six hundred years now. They knew how to blend in and act human. Marik could have probably never known if Bakura hadn't accidentally set off that trap in front of his house.

Marik headed over to his bed and lied down on it. It was as comfortable as always, but he could feel his head starting to hurt. He thought briefly about going down into the kitchen to get some aspirin, then decided the trip hardly seemed worth it. He thought that he would not tell the two vampires. Not yet. It was early on in the investigation and Mai wasn't sure of anything. There was no pressing matter to urge him to act just now. He could afford to wait a while and see if anything would turn up first. Once he knew that, then he would tell them if he needed to. He wouldn't let either of the twins die, he was certain of that. But there was also no need to freak them out and make them move unnecessarily. So for now he would wait and see what happened.

With that decided, Marik rolled over in his bed and brought his covers over him. The throbbing in his head was worsening, and he hoped that maybe a nap would calm it before it turned into a full-blown migraine.

00000

The next day, during his lunch period, Bakura took a seat right next to Marik, much to the blonde's displeasure. He and Marik had always had the same lunch period, but as Bakura didn't eat lunch like the rest of the student body, he usually wandered off and left. To where, Marik never figured out. He'd thought that Bakura would do the same today, so he hadn't been worried about trying to avoid the vampire. It wasn't that he didn't want to see the other teen so much as he figured it would be better not to. He had a lot of things on his mind, and seeing Bakura certainly wouldn't help to solve any.

"So, you still mad at me?" Bakura questioned as he sat down at the table—much too closely for Marik's tastes. He was acutely aware of their thighs touching. He fidgeted in his seat slightly to give Bakura the hint to move away, but instead the idiot only got closer. Marik himself would have moved, but as he was already sitting at the end of the table, there wasn't much open space to move_ to_.

"No, I am not mad, just in a bad mood. I didn't get much sleep last night. And would you _please_ move further away from me! I do _not_ need the entire school assuming that I'm sleeping with you!" Marik snapped. Bakura smiled cheekily and practically situated himself on Marik's lap. He draped his pale arms around the other boy's neck and leaned in much closer to him than was acceptable.

"Well aren't we? I mean, we haven't slept together just yet of course, but I'm assuming it won't be much longer until that happens, especially since you're always so hot and bothered around me—"

"Bakura!" Marik shrieked, face beginning to turn red. There went any hope of at least _pretending_ he was still straight. As if the bathroom fiasco hadn't been bad enough… So, trying to salvage what little was left of his pride, Marik did the only sensible thing to do in his situation and pushed Bakura off his lap and onto the floor.

"Ow!" Bakura complained. "You could have just asked _nicely_!" Marik neither responded nor offered to help Bakura off the floor, so eventually the teen picked himself up.

"Guess you are still mad then," He murmured. Marik glared daggers.

"Well look," Bakura continued, "you can go ahead and be as angry as you want. I'm leaving now anyways. Come to the apartment after you get out, got it?" And with that, he was gone. Marik watched him go for a few moments before turning back to his neglected food. He didn't know what Bakura wanted, but it was going to have to wait. He had more important things to find out. Today Malik had skipped school and gone with Mai to snoop around. He wanted to be at the house when Malik returned, and he was going to make sure to be the first person to talk to him about how it had gone. Malik wouldn't want to give the information up so easily of course, but Marik had his ways.

The next day when he wasn't in class, Marik spent his time looking out for Bakura and trying to keep out of his sight. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to do. Bakura didn't seem to even be bothering to search for him. Marik didn't put too much thought into this, just was thankful for small occurrences of good luck. Instead, his thoughts were occupied with other problems. Yesterday he had not been able to lure any information out of Malik. When his twin had arrived back at the house he had been smirking and animated, sure signs that he and Mai must have found _something_ out. But what? He needed to find out, but if Malik wasn't telling him, then how was he supposed to? There was no way he could get the information out of Mai. The entire situation was infuriating enough to bring back his migraine from the other day.

As the day progressed his migraine only got worse, especially when he returned home on the bus and saw a shiny new motorcycle sitting in his driveway. The same motorcycle he had stolen with Bakura, the same motorcycle that _should have_ been with Bakura, and nowhere_ near_ his sister.

"Oh, you asshole," Marik swore under his breath, then headed up the steps and into the house, prepared to face Isis.

"What is _that_?" Said sister demanded the instant he'd set his foot in the door.

"Umm, a motorcycle?" Marik said.

"Marik," Isis wanted. "I know that it's a motorcycle. What I don't know is how it got there."

"Well don't look at me! It's not like I know either! Maybe the guy who hit me found out who I was and decided to buy me a new one," He suggested. It wasn't a clever answer. It wasn't even a _good_ answer. But when he said it, the anger left Isis's expression, and he noticed for the first time since entering the house just how tired she looked. There wasn't anything in her face to suggest it, more something that seemed to permeate from her. Her blue eyes might have been a little less lively than they normally were, but that was the only physical attribute that was affected. He wondered what could possibly have made his sister seem so tired, and immediately the answer came to him. Gourou. Isis had acted the same when he had shown up at their house the other day. It hadn't looked to Marik like anyone had been to the house, so he must have called her.

"Just promise me that's the truth Marik, and that you didn't have anything to do with it," Isis pleaded. Marik was taken aback for a moment by just how eager Isis looked. It reminded him of Egypt… Back then, Isis had been so eager to believe that he and Malik hadn't done anything wrong. She'd never wanted to hear the truth about just how horrible the two of them really were. The Isis of that time had wanted to pretend like her two baby brothers were still as innocent and cute as they had been as children.

"I promise, Isis," Marik lied softly. He felt a pang of guilt because of the lie, but he instantly buried it away and ignored it. He had to lie. The last time Isis had looked like this, she'd been crushed when she'd learnt otherwise. Both he and Malik had agreed to never put her through that again, and Marik wasn't about to go back on that, even if it meant lying now.

"You okay Isis? You look tired," Marik mentioned. He out an arm around her and lead her over to the couch. She _did_ seem tired, and when she sat down on it she sighed and seemed to sink down into the cushion. A moment later through she smiled and waved the question off.

"Oh, I'm fine. Things are just a bit hectic at the museum right now, but that's it," She said.

"You sure? Gourou's not bothering you or anything, is he?" Marik questioned.

"No, of course not. I'll be glad when this mess is over and done with however," Isis laughed. "Thank you for your concern Marik, it was very nice. You don't have to worry about a thing though, so don't worry. Everything will resolve itself with time." She got off the couch with another smile and headed for the kitchen. "Well, I'm going to make a few calls and check out some things for Malik and Mai. Did you want a snack or anything?"

"No, that's fine. I was going to head over to Bakura's anyways." Of course Marik knew that Isis was lying, but if she didn't want to tell him the truth, then there really wasn't anything he could do about it. He really wished now that he didn't have to go see what was up with Bakura. He needed to try again to get something out of Malik, and he still had to deal with the problem of how to get those damn Sennen Items back to Gourou without getting Isis into any trouble. Which was going to be much more difficult than he'd originally thought. Bakura had better have a damn good reason for needing to see him. Of course, no doubt he wouldn't, but damn! Did he really have to bring the bike _here_ to get his attention? He could have gotten in _so_ much trouble if Isis had been in a bad mood.

Figuring that since the bike was here (and it would get him to Bakura's the fastest), Marik hoped on it. He was still very strongly of the opinion that Bakura was an idiot for bringing it here, but he certainly didn't mind getting to ride it. He'd always loved the freedom he felt while riding a motorcycle, and this one really was a great bike. It _almost_ made him forget how frustrated he was at the stupid vampire and in general. Almost.

When he knocked on the door Bakura opened it was a smirk and a quip about how he'd known "the bike would get you to come."

"Yeah, it got me to come because of how utterly _obtuse_ it was of you to bring it to my house. Do you even _think_ before you do things?" Marik scowled irritably. "Now what do you want?"

"Nothing much. I figured that if you were still mad at me for the other day, as your boyfriend it is my to make you happy again, right?" Bakura questioned cheekily. Marik successfully managed to prevent himself from rolling his eyes and spouting off in a torrent of anger. Instead, he calmly turned around and headed for the door. Of course, he only got so far before Bakura had taken a hold of his arm and brought him over to sit next to him on the couch.

"Now why would you think I'd just let you leave after I finally got you here" Bakura purred. He leaned in for a kiss, but Marik moved his head and the other teen met with only air.

"Look, I'm not in a particularly good mood today Bakura, and I have things I need to do back at my house. I can't be wasting my time here," He said.

"Who said it's a waste of time?" Bakura questioned, leaning in much closer to Marik than necessary. Marik frowned and tried to get away once more, but this time Bakura was ready for it. He leaned over Marik and rested his arms on the couch arm on both sides of Marik's head, effectively trapping him in place. Their lips met, sending a small jolt down Marik's spine, though he did not participate. Bakura's lips moved against his own, trying fruitlessly to engage him in the kiss. Marik was tempted to respond, but he really did not have time for this, and the simplest of ways to get out of here was to show that to Bakura.

"Come on, do something, damn it," Bakura muttered against him. Marik didn't even bother to respond. He heard Bakura growl in the back of his throat, and then the other teen was nipping at his lips. He hadn't been expecting that in the least, and on impulse his mouth opened. Bakura took the opportunity to shove his own tongue inside Marik's mouth and forced their mouths to move together. Despite his attempts to not give in, Marik found himself becoming aroused by the savage kiss. It was completely different than the other ones they'd shared in the past. Even so, he was the one who broke it.

"I can't stay here, Bakura," He said, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, you can. If you're really in that bad of a mood, then it'll do you some good to relax. Turn around," Bakura commanded. Something about the way the vampire said the last order made Marik decide it was probably better to just remain here for an hour or so and then leave. Bakura was obviously intent on making him stay here for at least a little while. So decided that he's remain her for a bit before returning to his house to question Malik, Marik turned around and obeyed the peculiar command.

Bakura made him lean slightly against his own body, and then his hands went to Marik's shoulders. Marik stiffened for a moment when they began to press into his back.

"Relax, you dolt. That's the point of a backrub," Bakura scoffed. He leant in closer to Marik then, his lips brushing hotly against the skin of his neck. Marik shivered and despite himself, leant into the touch.

"Bet I could give you a getter one if you'd take the shirt off," The other teen breathed softly. A hand danced teasingly at the hem of Marik's shirt, cold fingers sipping under and skimming across the skin underneath. For a moment, he froze and his mind went blank but for an intense, irrational bout of fear. In another second Marik had buried that fear far back down in his mind and had wrenched away from Bakura's hands and spun around, back to the couch.

"No," He said raggedly. Bakura was gazing at him with a perplexed expression, and on some level he recognized that he was acting strangely and needed to stop before Bakura started to ask questions, but for now he just stared at the other teen across from him on the small couch. "No."

"No what? You don't want a backrub?" Bakura questioned. Marik's hand clenched the couch cushion under him hard, his eyes closed for a second. When he opened them again it was with a smirk on his face. He was fine. Perfectly fine. And Bakura had just given him a way out. Staring at Bakura from under half-lidded eyes, Marik brought his leg up in front of the other teen.

"No, I don't want you to rub my back," He said smoothly. Bakura's face lost the look of confusion that had been apparent on it before, and how his eyes flashed rubicund and became half-lidded like Marik's.

"You little bitch," He purred, taking a hold of the bronzed foot in front of him. His fingers pressed deeply into the sole of his foot, and Marik sighed heavily. His fingers moved back and forth over his foot, pressing her and there, relaxing Marik far more than he would have thought such a simple action could do. He moaned as Bakura pressed hard into the pads of his foot, relieving pains he hadn't even known had existed.

"You're quite skilled at that, aren't you?" Marik questioned slowly. Bakura gave him a slow, sensuous smirk that made Marik's body tingle warmly.

"Of course. I'm very good with my hands," He answered.

"The skill suits you," Marik murmured lowly. His eyes closed slowly as he sunk back into the couch, completely unwound now. Yes, this suited Bakura, for him to be down at his feet, taking care of his needs. He felt Bakura place the first foot down, tenderly, and pick up the other. Marik moaned again when clever fingers began to press against his skin, pressing deeply for one moment, then softly brushing the sensitive skin in the next. His hands massaged the heel of his foot, fingers pressing harder and harder into the flesh. Marik felt like it should hurt, but all he felt was warm and relaxed. His head rolled back to rest against the couch's arm and he exhaled. Whatever Bakura was doing, it was great.

He felt Bakura lift his foot up more, and his touches became lighter and lighter, but Marik paid no mind to this. His mind was, for the first time in the past two days, completely empty, and the migraine that had been plaguing him and keeping him up at night, gone. He felt a hot puff against the skin of his foot, and then an even hotter, moist something. It took Marik a moment to come back to himself, as he'd almost fallen asleep while Bakura had been rubbing him. He opened his dim lavender orbs lazily; wanting to see what Bakura was going now that felt so good.

The slow, groggy movements that had so characterized him just milliseconds ago were hastily shattered as Marik show a few inches into the air and stiffened, his eyes widening at the sight before him. There was Bakura, still holding his foot, but much closer to his mouth than it had been before. His tongue was on Marik's toes, curling around them, then taking them into his mouth and sucking. Marik shuddered heavily, suddenly feeling much too hot in his clothes. The sight before him should have been repulsive, but all it did was send a thick jolt of hot, hazy pleasure straight down to his groin.

Slowly he made himself sit back against the couch, trying to relax as he had before. The task was neigh impossible. Watching Bakura lick him in such a… suggestive way… was doing _very_ strange things to both his mind and body. His hand twitched at his side, desiring to touch. He gripped the couch cushions to restrain himself from doing so and continued to watch. He wanted to touch; better yet, he wanted to partake in those same activities—but he also did not want to do anything that would threaten to interrupt the _highly_ erotic scene unfolding right before him.

Bakura's eyes were half-lidded, burning red slits. He was staring directly at Marik as his tongue ran almost lazily back and forth over the pads of his foot, then dipping down to the sole. Every second their eyes remained connected, Marik felt his body becoming hotter and hotter. His skin burned against his clothes and he wanted them off, or at least for someone to open a window. It was stifling in the room, and the actions Bakura was taking weren't helping the heat to dissipate any quicker.

Bakura's eyes were closing slowly not, and Marik's breath caught in his throat. He stared deeply at the other male, watching as his mouth enclosed around his big toe. The expression on his face, with his eyes closed like that… Marik blushed heavily, and abruptly came to notice the hardness in his pants that had surely not been there before. His cheeks burned brighter as Bakura sucked on the toe, his tongue wrapping around it languidly. He released it from his mouth with a soft "pop," and then slowly licked the rest of Marik's foot. Marik shuddered visibly and clenched onto the couch even tighter. Bakura licked leisurely back down his foot, humming softly, right until he came to Marik's ankle. He stopped there, leaving his tongue on the patch of skin like a hot brand, and opened his eyes to look at him. Marik's heart thumped erratically in his chest and his mouth went dry. Bakura's eyes were a sultry, deep crimson red, staring directly at him and drenched in lust. His mouth was open, exposing his pink tongue, allowing a fine line of saliva to trail down his chin.

In an instant Marik's foot was pulled away from the vampire's mouth and he was licking up Bakura's chin, tracing the trail of saliva, and then that pink tongue was wrestling messily with his own. Marik was sitting on the other male's lap and his hands were fumbling to get Bakura's shirt off and over his head, suddenly feeling more like clumsy chucks of meat than hands with nimble fingers, and wanting nothing more right now than to touch and caress and to _feel_. Their lips broke apart for only a second as the shirt was yanked off and thrown somewhere to the floor. Their breath mingled together as both boys panted hard, looking at one another with equally hungry eyes. In a second their lips were smashed together with so much force that Marik could taste blood in his mouth, though whether his or Bakura's he knew not. He didn't care. There was a fire inside him telling him to continue and he wanted to so much. He'd always wanted to continue the other times when he'd been together with Bakura, but the desire hadn't ever been this intense. If someone interrupted them now… Marik would kill the person himself. Speaking of which…

"Where's Ryou?" Marik panted, pulling away reluctantly from Bakura's lips. The vampire's lips were a bright, bruised red and the color of them reflecting the color of his red, red eyes made him all the more a delectable sight. Marik absentmindedly licked his own lips, similarly bruised by the fierce kiss.

"Gone. Doing some club project. He'll be gone for another two hours," Bakura grinned. Marik mirrored it as he leaned down for another bruising kiss.

"You wouldn't have planned all of this, would you have?" Marik asked evilly. His cheeks were flushed and a small string of saliva connected both of their lips. Bakura leaned up and licked his lips, breaking the string. He smiled, showing off his fangs, and that was all the answer Marik needed. With a smirk of his own he pushed Bakura back down onto the couch. He spent a moment inspecting the shirtless body underneath him. Bakura was pale, unnaturally so, but instead of making his body look sickly, it seemed to enhance his beauty. The plane of flat skin offered before him was unmarked and untouched by any scars or blemishes, and, sensing a challenge, Marik's hands began to busy themselves with trying to find some unsightly mark to prove the vision of perfection incorrect. What he did find was that the flesh under his palms was cold, not freezing, but enough to send a shiver up his own spine and create an interesting contrast with his own heated flesh.

He leant down to Bakura's neck and blew a puff of hot air against it, felt the body beneath him shiver. Marik smirked to himself and then leant lower still and licked the skin offered beneath him. Bakura shivered again as his tongue trailed lower and lower down his neck and dipped into the crevice between his clavicle. He meant to go lower still, but a hand against his cheek lifted him back up to gaze at Bakura.

"What are you doing? I'm supposed to be the one relaxing you," Bakura scolded mischievously. He tried to sit back up, but Marik kept him down and grinned cheekily.

"No. I'm in a bad mood, remember? So you'll let me do whatever I want here," He insisted. And then he leant back down to Bakura's chest and took one of the coral pink nipples into his mouth ad sucked on it. He nipped it lightly and Bakura hissed up at him. He bucked his hips up at Marik impatiently, whether purposefully on not, Marik did not know. The intent behind the action hardly seemed to matter so much as the movement itself. Marik released the tortured nipple from his mouth as a moan tore through him when a certain hardness of Bakura's rubbed against his own erection. Bakura did it again and this time they both moaned.

"Clothes off. Now," Bakura demanded, panting. Marik shook his head as he ground his hips against Bakura's once more and bit his lip to keep from moaning again.

"The shirt stays on," He argued.

"Fine," Bakura agreed. He sat up as much as he could with Marik still situated atop his legs and began to fumble with the buttons to the Egyptian teen's pants. Marik watched him through half-lidded eyes, still concentrating on the throbbing pleasure created with each thrust of his hips against Bakura's. In the back of his mind he understood that this was the last chance he would get to refuse Bakura before this all led to sex. He'd had sex before. Not with a man, but the mechanisms behind it were familiar and unthreatening. Rather, he desired this more than he had with any of the females he'd been with. Bakura was much more magnificent than they had been, and the mother male excited him like no girl had been able to. He wanted this man, and he wanted him now.

With a sudden renewed intensity, Marik grabbed Bakura's hands and pushed him back against the couch before harshly crushing their mouths together again. He shoved his tongue into Bakura's mouth, rubbed it against the other man's in the same manner that he was still rubbing his lower half against the other. Bakura growled and tried to dominate the kiss, but Marik shoved his back against the couch arm and kept his hands held behind him. He knew that if he wanted to, with his superior strength, Bakura could easily break free from his grasp, but the fact that he didn't sent a thrill racing up Marik's spine. He was being allowed to dominate in this instance and that fueled his libido so much more.

When they broke apart, both panting, Bakura began to work on his pants once again. Marik was forced to part their hips when Bakura peeled both his pants and boxers away from his skin and tossed them to the floor. Marik hissed as cool air caressed his throbbing erection, and then even more when Bakura's hand closed around it and began to steadily pump. He thrust slowly into the hand encircling him, and his eyes became lidded, losing himself in the pleasure for a moment. When the soft touches ceased to excite him and left him longing for more, with a reluctant moan Marik pulled away.

His hands trailed down Bakura's chest, ghosting playfully over pointed nipples, tracing over the contours of lean muscle and taut skin to trail lower down lower, to the flat plane of his abdomen. From there he continued his journey to Bakura's pants and unzipped them. His fingers snuck down into the jeans and caressed the heated bulge they found there, earning him a moan from Bakura. He wasn't allowed to continue for much longer before the other man removed his hands and dug around in his pocket, producing a small bottle.

"You really did have this entire thing planned out, didn't you?" Marik asked cheekily.

"Just like to be prepared," Bakura responded. He handed over the bottle and Marik squeezed some of the contents onto his fingers. This he was a bit unfamiliar with, having never used lube in this way before, but he was not ignorant. He knew that he was meant to do. Making sure first that his fingers were thoroughly coated in the substance, Marik reached around behind him to his butt. He grimaced as he slid a finger into himself, not liking the feel of the intrusion. It didn't hurt—yet—but it wasn't a feeling he could ever see himself getting used to.

He felt eyes on him and looked up to see Bakura openly staring at him, licking his lips hungrily. Marik blushed despite himself, not used to receiving such an intense stare from anyone, and certainly not while in the midst of such an intimate act. He found himself becoming aroused by it, his cock throbbing painfully; despite the discomfort he was experiencing now with two fingers stretching his insides.

Suddenly he found himself lying flat on his back, Bakura hovering above him, eyes burning brightly.

"Bah-Bakura?" Marik questioned, startled.

"I want to bite you," Bakura muttered somberly.

"Wha—?"

"I want to bite you. I want to mark you. I want to let everyone know that you are _mine_."

"Bakura, I don't know what you're—Mmpfh!" He was cut off abruptly as Bakura kissed him hard, not even so much a kiss as the clashing of teeth and mashing of lips. Marik tasted blood in his mouth again. This time he was certain that it had come from him. Bakura's fangs—which he noted with a jolt were much longer than they had been minutes prior—had accidentally cut open the inside of his cheek.

Just as soon as their mouths had met, Bakura was pulling away, lips and breath now ghosting across Marik's neck. He shuddered under Bakura and fidgeted a bit (he was lying quite painfully on his right arm), but the vampire did not budge. Instead, he captured his face and forced Marik to look straight into his eyes, then leaned down and connected their lips again. This kiss was nothing like the one before, seemingly nothing like any of the ones they'd shared before. Bakura dominated his mouth, arduously exploring the hot cavern, mapping every insignificant niche. Marik's body trembled; he doubted that he could have kept himself upright had be been standing. He could feel the passion pouring from Bakura, the fire and heat and _desire_ of it all and the pure, unadulterated carnal want, primal and instinctual and overpowering. He could feel Bakura like he'd never felt him before. His senses were aflame with all that was Bakura and he could smell him and feel him and taste him (oh _yes_ he could taste him) and every touch was like being jolted back to life and back to Bakura, Bakura…

When he pulled away from his lips, Marik's mind was still dazed, for he could still _feel_ Bakura just as intimately as he had before, but the sense of_ Bakura_ was quickly fading back to Marik, leaving him disjointed. He felt like he'd just had an out-of-body experience, like he'd somehow, just for a brief second, become one with Bakura. He didn't know what it was or what had actually happened, but it had left him _painfully_ aroused, so much that he couldn't help a whimper from escaping his lips when Bakura carelessly shuffled around and their bare erections touched.

"I want to bite you, Marik. I'll mark you, and then everyone who sees will know that you are mine. No one will ever touch you. The will all know that you belong only to me," Bakura was murmuring again, still not making much more sense now than he had when he'd said the same words before. He looked at Marik carefully.

"I want to bite you," He stated, and Marik understood now that this was a roundabout question and he was required to give answer. His head still felt strange, as if he were not yet all himself, but he found himself nodding, understanding on some indeterminate level that this was important, even if he did not understand what Bakura was saying.

"Not where everyone can see," He mumbled, knowing at least that if he were to be "marked" in some way, it needed to be hidden from his siblings. Bakura nodded seriously and slowly began to travel down the length of his body. He felt Bakura's breath soft and warm against the pumping artery in his neck, felt a brief wetness touch the skin, and then the warmth was gone as he continued downward, blocked from meeting flesh by his shirt. He mourned the loss of it, feeling somehow less like himself without it. He was tethered to this time and space by his senses, existing only when he could feel and caress and know that he was alive because he could do these things. He was tied to Bakura; their existence was the same. With Bakura he had definition, he had substance; he knew what he was because he could identify what he was not. All at once he could _feel_ Bakura and _be_ Bakura, but he could also tell the exact moment where Bakura ended and he began. The loss of that breath against his skin was disorienting—it felt like he had lost Bakura and also a piece of himself, amputated some significance about his identity.

Bakura returned to him when the hem of the shirt ended. He could feel warmth fanning out against his hips and his erection, and then he could feel those _teeth_, those long, pointed _teeth_, grazing sharp against his skin and against his mind. He opened his mouth—to say what, exactly?—but all that escaped it was a scream, torn from his vocal cords as Bakura plunged those teeth into a patch of skin near his hipbone and began to suck and nip.

Fire was coursing through his veins and it burnt like liquid stardust and it hurt and it _hurt_ but somewhere down the line he'd began to _like_ the burn and the screams that left his throat were of pleasure like passion and power and he screamed and screamed and writhed on the couch. He felt connected to Bakura again, much more than during the kiss, so that he could feel his blood, his life, leaving him and entering Bakura to become _his_ blood and _his_ life. It was an addicting feel to be so close to the one you loved—loved?—and he wanted it to go on and on but almost as soon as it had began Bakura pulled away and left him confused and disoriented and oh-so puzzled but what had just occurred—because what _had_ just occurred?—and with the only thing that he _was_ quite sure of being that he was very, _very_ aroused.

His blood was staining Bakura's lips redder than normal, and he kissed it all away ferociously, pushing Bakura to lie back down on the couch. He was still not quite yet himself after whatever it was that had occurred, but his groin throbbed painfully, and before he thought about any of it he knew that he needed release. So he grabbed a hold of the bottle of lube and squeezed more of it onto his hand and slathered it all over Bakura's erection. The man under him hissed at the contact. His fangs shone and glinted in the light and the sight made Marik shudder needily. He pumped his hands a few times; making sure the other was thoroughly coated, and then lifted himself up and positioned his hips so that the head of the other teen's length was pressed up right against him.

He paused for a moment. Thought about it. Did he really want to have sex with a vampire—and a male one at that—of all things? If anyone in his family ever found out… Marik's body screamed at him to get on with it, but for the first time since their clothes had rapidly started to disappear, Marik felt like he was thinking clearly. He gazed down at the man underneath him. Took in his features. Vampire or not, he was beautiful. He saw the way Bakura's cerise gaze searched his face, almost as if he could sense the thoughts Marik was having, and he noticed the way the hands on his own hips stilled, allowing him the time to think. With that action Marik decided, just as he had before with Bakura aside the outcropping of rock, that he truly did want this. He wanted all of it.

He lowered himself slowly onto the man underneath him, feeling the pressure of Bakura's clawed hands on his hips helping to push him down. The claws left little indents and small scratches that bled and added to the pain and discomfort Marik was already beginning to feel. When Bakura was fully sheathed inside him, he shifted and leant his head against Bakura's chest to lesson the pain.

"Relax," Bakura ordered.

"You relax!" Marik snapped back. "You're not the one with the giant thing up your ass!"

"I thank you for the compliment," Bakura smirked, and then he jerked his hips upward, causing Marik to yelp and sit back in an upright position. He glared at the man underneath him and purposefully clenched his muscles as he lifted himself upward. The discomfort that flitted across Bakura's face over his "innocent" smirk made the pain he was feeling all worth it. Bakura's hands pushed him sharply back down and he audibly gasped at the stab of pain, gritting his teeth to keep more noises from escaping him.

"I can give back every bit as good at I get," Bakura warned. "If it's kinky sex you're looking for, I'll hurt you as much as you'd like later. For right now though, stop being a bitch and relax." Marik opened his mouth to protest, but Bakura quickly shut him up with another quick thrust that jolted him into silence. Still glaring, Marik closed his eyes and forced his body to relax. He did want this, but he was worked up all the same, and that wasn't making anything easier. The pain didn't make things better, but he could deal with that. He'd felt worse. This wasn't even that bad.

He felt Bakura shift above him and then arms wrapped around his body and pulled him to warm lips. He felt a tongue on his bottom lip, and he let it into his mouth without a fight, thankful for the distraction. This kiss was not anything like the ones that had come before it. It was not ferocious and hard and needy, nor was it disconcerting and filled him with that strange sense of awareness. It was hard and damp and warm, sparking a fire in Marik's veins as their mouth moved, tongues rubbing against one another and fighting. And then he felt Bakura pull out of his body almost completely. He'd been engrossed in the kiss, hardly noticing that Bakura had lied him down on the couch and was now above him.

He felt lips trail down from his mouth to his chin, kissing and licking along the edge of it, slowly leaving warm, wet paths down to his bare neck. He panicked for a moment, thought Bakura might bite him here as well, but when he felt teeth they were only nibbles. The lips moved everywhere, caressed every inch of skin, tending to the fire in Marik's stomach, making it burn all the hotter, consuming him more and more. He moaned softly, relishing every movement as his neck was ravished.

And then suddenly Bakura was moving inside, making shallow thrusts. He could feel the tip of the other's member inside him, yet nothing more ever entered him with each slow thrust. The pain was still there, but it was shoved to the back of his mind, only vaguely remembered when he thought about it. He had better things to concentrate on, like the tongue that was lapping at his lips.

"You can… go in more," Marik said softly, feeling more than slightly embarrassed by his statement. But that hardly seemed to matter in a moment as he felt his body stretched to accommodate more of Bakura's invading size. With each slow thrust, one inch after another was eased into him gradually, and only when he was ready. The tenderness of the situation surprised Marik. Every other time he'd had something close to a sexual encounter with Bakura, the man had been eager and solely focused on getting what he wanted out of the act. This gentle side of Bakura was something he'd never seen before, and it fascinated him greatly.

When he was all the way in, Bakura paused, letting Marik adjust. The feeling was strange, foreign, and not altogether unpleasant. It felt much better this time around going in slow, rather than the fast entry they had done earlier. Marik breathed deeply, and shifted on the cramped couch, signaling to Bakura to start movement again. He felt the other man pull out nearly all the way, and then push back in, a bit faster than before, but still gentle enough to forgo the pain. The movement was repeated again and again, hurting less and less with each entry becoming something familiar. And then Bakura began to shift around above him, positioning his hips in a different alignment with each new push.

Marik screamed as Bakura evidently found what he searched for. Bakura pressed against his prostrate again, and Marik moaned, back arching just slightly. As Bakura smirked above him and ground his hips into his, eliciting another wanton moan, Marik flushed. He tried to cover his face with his hands, but the moment he made the movement Bakura withdrew and pressed in sharply, earning himself a gasp. His hands paused mid-way to his face, and immediately went back to the couch, gripping the cushion tightly.

"Such a cute face you've got there," Bakura grinned.

"Shut the hell up!" Marik hissed violently, face lighting up with surprise as another particularly hard thrust entered him. He stifled another gasp by bolting upright and grabbing onto Bakura. He buried his face into the man's neck and gripped tightly onto his arms, hard enough to bruise, but Bakura didn't seem to mind. Instead, he started to pound into him faster and harder, angling just so he could grind against Marik's prostrate with each entry.

From this angle he could feel that Bakura was not entering him as deeply as before, but it hardly seemed to matter as the vampire more than made up for the lost depth with the marks he was leaving on his neck. He would have _a lot _of explaining to do to his siblings when he finally returned home. He had still not yet removed his face from Bakura's neck, despite the clammy flesh he could feel against his own damp forehead. He could not see the extent of the damage Bakura was doing to his neck, but he could feel lips all over him, hot breath, and nibbling teeth. Those pointed teeth never broke his flesh, but the knowledge that they could at any moment sent dark bolts of pleasure straight down to his groin. The idea of being with a vampire like this was dark and thrilling.

"You're not letting me see your face… You embarrassed or something?" Bakura murmured against his neck.

"No!" Marik shouted hotly. He felt Bakura's lips move against his neck, and then they were kissing deeply, hotly, and he was moaning into the other man's mouth with each thrust. Bakura began to shuffle on the couch underneath him, and Marik got the hint. He too began to try and maneuver his body into a new position, all while staying connected together. The task was damn near impossible without falling off the small sofa. He whined with some dissatisfaction when he felt Bakura leave him, somewhat struck by how _wrong_ the loss of him felt.

"I swear," Marik huffed, following a sharp gasp as Bakura entered him again. "When I see Ryou next, I'm telling him to—aahhh! …get a damn bigger couch."

"Be my guest," Bakura remarked. He flung one of Marik's legs over his shoulder and kissed the inside of his thigh. He took no small amount of pleasure in the amazing murmur that produced. "I've been… trying to convince him of—ah… of that for… ages now." Marik's free leg hooked itself around the paler teen's waist, bringing their bodies closer together.

"No more talk now," He grinned, leaning up briefly for a kiss. Bakura obeyed, taking the order to heart as they continued pressing against each other. The only sounds that passed through the lips of both were moans and gasps and growls. Marik pressed eagerly against the length inside him, moving his own hips in rhythm with Bakura's pistoning ones, allowing for deeper penetration and more pleasure to rush through his body. His hands gripped tightly onto the couch cushion, probably tight enough to tear the damn thing, but he didn't care. At the moment it felt like the only thing keeping his sanity in check. He was getting close now, he could feel it, and it was going to be better than anything he had felt before, that he was sure of.

Bakura reached down, ghosting over his nipples through the fabric of his shirt, making them stand on end. Down past his chest and his abdomen and the end of the shirt, and right away Marik knew where he was headed. His cock throbbed painfully, aching for release, throbbing to be touched. When a hand finally did wrap around it, he almost came right there on the spot. Somehow, he managed to keep the urge under check.

Bakura's hand moved painfully slow, but his frenzied thrusts were hard and deep, and the differing speeds were much more arousing than Marik thought was possible. He was almost screaming now, could hear the wanton noises passing through his lips, but couldn't find it in him to actually even notice. At any other time it might have been mortifying, but not now. Now he concentrated only on the feel of being pushed into so mercilessly, strove to reach his high. He felt Bakura stiffen up above him, and stopped moving as he came with a cry. The sudden flood of warmth attacked all of Marik's senses and sent him overboard as he too came.

They lied together for some time on the couch before Bakura pulled out of him. Marik was still awake enough to hear Bakura suggest they move to his bedroom, but he swatted the white-haired pest and lay back down on the couch and slept.

00000

Marik returned back to a house that was thankfully empty but for his brother. He would rather everyone be gone, but at least this was something. As he'd suspected, his neck was full of bruises and hickeys, and he had a very visible limp to his step as well. It had been worse when he'd woken up, so much so that Bakura had cheekily offered to accompany him back to his house. Marik had, of course, refused that offer. He'd stopped his motorcycle at the turn that led to his house, then had walked it back and used the time to get his limp somewhat under control. Maybe he could pass it off to the untrained eye as an ankle injury. Of course, anyone who caught a glimpse at his neck would assume otherwise, but maybe if he could cover that up…

He had thought Marik would say something about his neck when he saw it, but instead he only glanced at the bruises and then crossed his arms and glared.

"Where were you?" He demanded. He was in a bad mood, Marik noted.

"Where I was is none of your business," Marik replied, his own eyes narrowing.

"It is. Were you aware of the fact that that Gourou bastard called Isis today?"

"I thought he might have. When I got home earlier she seemed kind of freaked out. I asked about Gourou, but she didn't want to tell me anything." Marik said.

"You get anything like this?" Malik tossed a plain envelope over to him. Marik turned it over. It was blank on both sides. He frowned and opened it up. The first thing he saw was a copy of a police report. He glanced over it briefly, already more than well aware of what he would find on its pages. Behind it was a sheet of paper with the typed message, "To Malik Ishtar." The rest of it was empty.

"It was I my bag when I got back. After school I was with Mai the entire time, so it couldn't have been slipped in then. It must have happened during class. If you didn't get one today, then you most likely will tomorrow," Malik said, carelessly taking the letter back. Marik frowned and quickly searched through his own bag. He didn't see anything in it that didn't belong there.

"What does he want?" He asked.

"He's threatening us," Malik grinned. His tongue slid across his lips, and his eyes took on a strange gleam that Marik has seen a handful of times in the past. Most recently the encounter where Marik had tried to choke him. He was glad that he was not on the receiving end of it this time.

"He thinks that by dredging up things from our past, he's going to force us to give him back his silly trinkets. He's probably threatening Isis with the same thing. We both know that our dear sister made quite the deal with the judge to keep us out of any serious trouble. Look at the report. He's telling us that if we don't do what he wants, he's going to make sure we get the punishment we should have gotten before," Malik explained. Marik scoffed and moved away from his brother.

"We can't let that happen. We have to do something," He said. He felt hands on his shoulders, and then his twin had spun him around, and they were face-to-face. Malik was still grinning that ear-to-ear grin, but it had lost some of its amusement. It was looking decidedly threatening at this point.

"Then give him back his things, Marik. I knew the minute Isis mentioned they were gone that you stole them. Out of the two of us, you were the one with the sticky hands, and you've always had a penchant for gold. You want him to stop, then give him what he wants," Malik hissed, his hot breath sending shivers down Marik's spine. His tongue flicked out to wet his lips, and Marik felt it graze his overly sensitive neck for a moment. Only an hour earlier Bakura had done the exact same thing to him.

"I'm trying to!" Marik hissed hotly. "Old habits die hard, right? Taking the damn things was stupid, and I don't need them for anything. I'm working on getting them back to the museum, but I can't let Gourou have any proof that I did it. He can suspect all he wants, but the moment he had any hardcore evidence that I stole those damn artifacts of his, he'll press charges. I'm sure of it. And I can't let that happen. Isis already doesn't seem very well. She can't find out that I've been stealing things again." Malik moved in front of him, stared at him. Marik held his gaze. Their bodies were so close he could feel the other's body heat permeating off him. Then, Malik smiled and released him. It would have been relieving if the expression didn't look so wrong on his face.

"You're right. Isis can't know. After all, we made a promise, didn't we? We said that we wouldn't let her get hurt again," Malik said. The fact that he'd mentioned it surprised Marik. It wasn't that his brother didn't care, just that he usually wasn't one to talk about familial obligations. Needless to say, his next statement only surprised Marik even further.

"Guess we'll just have to kick his ass together then, huh?"

00000

It was there in his bag the next day during class, just as Malik had said it would be. A plain white envelope with no addressee, sticking out from between his books. It hadn't been there just moments ago, and he had only left the classroom for a few minutes. Marik looked around the classroom suspiciously, seeing only the same students who had sat here every day of the year. No one screamed out to him that they had done it, although he was sure that it had been one of them.

Although he already knew what was waiting for him in the envelope, he opened it anyways. A police report, identical to Malik's although adorned with his own name instead of his twin's. He knew the words on it well enough that he could dictate them himself, yet he let his eyes wander over the page, remembering just how this thing had come to happen. It had been a mistake. It wasn't supposed to have gone down the way it had, but things had happened, and that man…

"What do you have there? Some kind of love letter from a secret admirer?"

Faster than he'd even thought was possible, Marik had stuffed the police report back into its envelope and had shoved that into his bag. After it was out of sight, he turned around and glared at Bakura.

"It's nothing," He muttered shortly.

"Oh really? Nothing? You sure about that?" Bakura asked, leaning in closer. Marik brought his bag closer to his body, subconsciously trying to block it from sight. It wasn't just that he didn't want Bakura to see it. He didn't want _anyone_ to see it. Even _he_ didn't want to see it. He never thought that he would have again, but yet, here it was.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Nothing," Marik glared.

"Well that's funny. Because it really doesn't seem like nothing to me. I can smell your fear, hear your pulse… Neither of those things happen all the time. So if it's something that had actually got you nervous, I'd like to know about it," Bakura said, frowning.

"Well it's—" Marik started.

"'Nothing?'" Bakura interrupted.

"I was going to say none of your business, but that too."

"Marik," Bakura said. He sat down in the seat in front of Marik's own and leaned over, face close to Marik's. His eyes were still brown, but Marik was startled anyways. He could see concern in them, and it made him pause long enough for the other teen to continue talking. "I'm your boyfriend, right? That means that I'm entitled to know certain things. It means that I'm entitled to help you. And if whatever is in that envelope is what's put you in a bad mood these past few days, then I more than deserve to know. When we started this… thing… I said that I would try, correct? That means you have to as well." Marik stared, knowing he'd been bested. Bakura was completely correct. The only problem was that he didn't _want_ to try. If Gourou were trying to bring up things from the past, then he and Malik would deal with it. He didn't_ want_ to have to tell anyone.

"Come on Marik." But…

"First of all, it is _not_ a problem. Malik and I can handle this all by ourselves," Marik started, giving in with a sigh. He ran a hand through his golden locks and shifted his gaze to the front of the classroom as Bakura began to look more interested. "It's just… the things I have, the Sennen Items. I stole them from the museum my sister works for, right? Well, they were sort of being leant to the museum by this Gourou person, and now he wants them back, and he's sure that one of us has them. He's been bothering my sister a lot lately. The envelope is just a friendly reminder that he wants them back."

"So, you need to get them back into the museum then, right?" Bakura asked, catching on quickly.

"Right. Once I get them back, he'll have no reason to keep bothering us, and no way of knowing that I was the one who had them. Malik and I are already working on it," Marik explained.

"Let us help," Bakura stated.

"'Us?'" Marik repeated. He'd known the offer would be coming, had expected it really, but the use of the plural was surprising. He hadn't been expecting Bakura to include Ryou like that. Bakura was overprotective of Ryou, much more than should be necessary for an immortal being. Yet here he was, including him in a potentially dangerous and very illegal activity.

"I'm a natural at these kinds of things, much more than you. I've had a hell of a lot more time to hone my skills. And Ryou won't be too thrilled at breaking the law, but he'll also want to help. He's worried about you too, you know. And I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to see your brother again, even if it's during a less than ideal romantic outing. He's still trying to woo him," Bakura chuckled good-naturedly. Some time during Bakura's comments, Marik had found himself looking at the other teen again, and now he felt an unknown emotion possess him. Was this what it was like to have friends? In the past, he'd only had minions and mind-slaves that followed orders. None of those people would have ever offered their help unless he'd ordered it. Bakura was practically demanding that both he and Ryou be allowed to help.

"Bakura…" Marik drifted off, at a loss for words. Bakura grinned at him cheekily.

"So we in then? You'll be happy to have me there when it's time to break you in, you know," He said. Marik felt an answering grin of his own spread to his lips, and his grip on the bag loosened.

"Yeah, I guess I will be, Mr. Thief King," Marik chuckled lightly. Bakura stuck his tongue out at him. Marik, after carefully looking around the classroom, in response to that action, darted forward and planted a small kiss on the other's lips.

"I'll see both you and Ryou at my house later today, okay?" We'll have to tell Malik about the changes and convince him to not kill any of us," He said.

"Got it," Bakura winked. He made a big show of gathering Marik's hand in his own and kissing it. That action caught the attention of a few others in the class, but for the moment, Marik did not care. The damn tricky vampire. Twice now he'd brought him out of his rotten mood. He was getting better at it, too. This time he hadn't even needed to remove his clothing. Which was unfortunate, but Marik didn't think his neck could take any more bruising. He couldn't keep the satisfied smirk off his face at the memory of yesterday, and soon, as if he'd read his mind, Bakura was making the same stupid grin.

True to his word, about an hour after Marik and Malik had returned to their house after classes, there was a knock at the door. Marik opened it to see Bakura and Ryou.

"Yo," Bakura greeted, "We allowed in?"

"But of course," Marik greeted amiably, opening the door wide. Ryou immediately took his shoes off, while Bakura strolled in without a thought, only removing them when Ryou coughed and gave him a look. Marik figured they would immediately begin discussing what to do, but instead Ryou looked around the house to check that it was empty before throwing his arms around Marik in an awkward hug of sorts.

"Welcome to the family!" He smiled warmly.

"Huh?" It was the only clever thing Marik could think to say.

"Bakura bit you, didn't he? I can smell it," Ryou said once he had released Marik. He looked at Bakura, who appeared decidedly uncomfortable. Confusion turned to enlightenment, and Ryou swatted his brother over the head.

"Oh, you cad! You didn't tell him, did you?" He questioned.

"Tell me what?" Marik asked.

"When we bite a human, we inject a venom into them. It… makes the experience a bit more tolerable, so to say. It dulls the pain receptors by releasing endorphins into the bloodstream. Normally the victim of the bite dies, so nothing really happens as a result, but when the human is kept alive, it's referred to as 'marking.' The bite will scar over and remain visible on your body, and the venom in your bloodstream will slightly alter your natural scent to resemble that of the vampire that bit you. It's a way used to tell others that you have someone who is watching over you," Ryou explained. Marik frowned and looked at the other brother for confirmation. Bakura just shrugged, and Marik sighed.

"Well, I don't have a problem with it, but you could have told me first. He just kind of sprung it on me," He told Ryou.

"He was probably too busy enjoying himself to think about it," Ryou smiled. Marik froze for a second, and then managed a shaky smile of his own. He _really_ hoped that Ryou wasn't aware of just _how_ busy the two of them had been on that tiny couch. From the look on Bakura's face, it seemed he was hoping the same thing.

"Yeah well, I think I'm going to get Malik now. He's up in his room. So uh, you just wait right there and I'll be down in a minute," Marik said. Both brothers nodded, and he made his escape up the stairs. Malik's door was closed, so he knocked briefly and then let himself in. Malik was situated at his desk with his laptop open. When Marik entered, he hurriedly shut it. Marik raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior, but decided not to question it. Maybe he was looking up something for Mai. He still needed to learn what was going on with their search, but that would have to be at a later time. Right now Gourou was more important, and he already had all the people necessary to deal with him assembled. He would come first. Then, whatever information Mai and Marik had found on any potential vampires.

"What do you want?" Malik questioned.

"Mmm, what a hospitable greeting," Marik scoffed. He wandered over to his twin's desk and hopped on top of it. "Got an envelop in my bag today. Just like you figured I would. Bakura happened to be nearby when I opened it. He didn't see the contents, but I had to tell him about Gourou. He and Ryou are here now. They want to help."

"No," Malik said, now turning his full attention to Marik.

"That's what I told him. But he and Ryou both won't listen. They want to help. They're worried, I guess." Marik shrugged.

"No. This is our problem to deal with. He's trying to provoke us, so we'll deal with him. We don't need any 'help,'" Malik spat. His irises were narrowing as he grew angrier and angrier, which was not good. Marik didn't really want any help with this either, but he'd already told Bakura and Ryou that they could help. And both genuinely _wanted_ to. Both were here of their own wishes, and no one else's. He couldn't turn them down like that. And the extra help _would_ be useful.

"Malik," He said, placing a hand carefully on the shoulder of his twin. He looked up and seemed to come back to himself, though his lips were still thin and his eyes still hard. "I don't really want them to help either, Malik. I want to take care of this all by myself, and just hide all of this shit and forget about it. It's over and done with and doesn't need to be brought up again. I don't want _anyone_ to know about it. So I'd rather just deal with Gourou alone as well, but that's not an option anymore. They want to help. Bakura and I are… whatever… and Ryou sees both of us as friends. He's really here for you, I think. He really wants to be your friend. He just wants to help. So let's let them help, okay?"

"You're different. You don't act the way you used to," Malik said finally, after a stretch of silence.

"You think? Is that a good thing?" Marik asked.

"I don't know. I don't think so. I don't understand what you're thinking anymore," Malik said. Marik held his gaze for a few minutes, contemplating the words in his head. He broke away when he came to some answer, and mentioned that they should head downstairs. Malik and followed without any further argument.

When they reached the stairs, Marik realized that he could hear voices coming from downstairs. He thought that it must have been Bakura and Ryou talking, but then he realized that it was a female voice he was listening to. Not Isis, and certainly not Mai either. It was unfamiliar. Bakura seemed to be the only one talking to her. When he and Malik descended the stairs, he saw that Bakura was talking with some blonde girl in the center of the room, while Ryou was standing uncomfortably off to the side. When she heard them walk into the living room, the girl spun around and ran to Malik, yelling, "Namu!" Marik finally recognized her as the girl they'd rescued from the vampires about a month ago when he saw her face.

"Natalie?" He asked incredulously, not quite believing that he was actually seeing the girl here. But yet, there she was, arms thrown around Malik and snuggling up to his chest as it she were more than welcome there.

"Oh hello! You're… Odion, correct? Namu's brother!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Uh… yeah…"Marik greeted dumbly. He wasn't sure of what else to say. By the look on Malik's face, he was just as unsure. His brother appeared positively murderous, but he hadn't thrown the girl off just yet. Marik supposed that was a good thing. He would have laughed at the situation they found themselves in if he's even been able to produce a sentence. Luckily, Bakura solved that problem for them.

"Natalie? Who the fuck is she? And what the fuck is she doing, clinging to him like that? Marik!" He shouted. Marik turned to face the other two in the room, and found that he still had no idea what to say. Bakura was glaring irately at the girl, but just as he was about to ask why, he figured out the answer for himself. Ryou was staring at Malik and Natalie with wide, sad eyes, and Marik actually flinched. He looked like a kicked puppy with the way he was staring. He immediately began to think of how he could explain the situation, but before he could even begin to produce words, Natalie opened her mouth and took it upon herself to make matters worse.

"I came here to see Namu! He saved me a while ago, and I've wanted to thank him properly for that. I only finally got the chance now though. My mother was worried about letting me go, and then it took a long, long time to find you. But I did! And here I am!" She explained, beaming like a miniature sun in the room. "Oh, and who is Marik?"

"It's umm… my last name," Marik finished lamely.

"Odion Marik? Sounds strange. Hmm, Namu Marik. Oh, what about Natalie Marik? Ha ha, I sort of like it!" The girl cheerfully exclaimed. With that sentence, Ryou's kicked puppy look became one of terrified horror. He really needed to get this girl out of here, but it was proving to be extremely difficult. She was so cheerful, and nice… It felt like he'd be doing something wrong by getting rid of her.

"Umm… Sorry to interrupt, but maybe we should be leaving. Bakura…" Ryou spoke up. All eyes turned to him, and the boy seemed to shrink into himself. A hand traveled up to his hair, and twirled the white locks nervously around his fingers. Bakura growled, and grabbed his twin by the hand, then marched up to Marik.

"We'll leave, but you have some explaining to do, _Odion_," Bakura growled angrily, poking Marik in the chest. "If he had a girlfriend, you should have said something!"

"Don't get all angry at me! I didn't know any of this was going to happen!" Marik argued, swatting Bakura's hand away. The other opened his mouth to say something more, but Natalie effectively shut them both up with a hand on their shoulders.

"Oh, don't start fighting!" She said. "No one has to leave. Everyone is already here, so why don't we all sit down and chat? If you let me have access to your kitchen, I'm sure I could make sandwiches, or perhaps something else. It'll be wonderful, I promise! So let's all sit down and behave, all right? Excuse me, but what's your name?" One second she was near the two fighting teens, and then in the next she was standing right next to Ryou. The pale boy looked a bit startled at being addressed so abruptly, but he offered the girl a shaky smile regardless.

"It's Ryou," He replied politely.

"What a lovely name. Ryou, what kind of sandwich—"

"No."

It was Malik who had spoken now, and Malik whom everyone turned to. The murderous look on his face had considerably darkened, to the point where even Marik felt afraid. And with good reason, too. He'd already stirred up Malik's anger earlier in his room. He hadn't yelled or anything then, but he certainly hadn't calmed down any. Natalie wouldn't have known better, but Malik did not like people touching him, and especially not clinging off him. Even if Marik were unable to get her out of the house due to her charm, his brother would have no problem being the complete asshole that he usually was. And it looked like everyone was now going to get the chance to see that, firsthand. Marik braced himself.

"You are not making sandwiches, and you are _not_ remaining here," He growled, impervious to Natalie's look of growing dismay. "And furthermore, I am _not_ some _thing_ for you to hang off of. I wouldn't want you to even if I were. I'm not some shining knight for you to all in love with especially not when you don't even know the first thing about me." Malik was moving now, growing closer to Natalie with each step, whom was herself backing away. The smile hadn't left her face just yet, but it was faltering fast the more Malik got into his tirade. Soon he'd cornered the girl against a wall.

"Do you even realize how insignificant you are to me? I don't give a damn about you, your mother, or however the two of you view me after that incident. If things hadn't worked out the way they did, I would never have bothered to save you. I don't _care_ about you. You're pathetic and weak. Why would I? The only reason you're still alive to be as dimwitted as you are it because you happened to have run into my brother here. If I'd been the one to find you, I would have left you to _rot_," Malik hissed.

"Th-that's not true! You… you saved me! You led me away from all of them!" Natalie insisted, despite the tears now rolling down her cheeks. Malik grinned and leant in closer to her. He licked up her cheek, and she gasped. Marik took a step forward. From the angle he was at, he could not see Malik's eyes or expression. He trusted that his twin would not let things get too out of hand, but just in case they didn't, he needed to be ready.

"You want to know why I did that? Not because I wanted to, or felt the need to protect you and keep you alive. You ran into my dear brother first. He saw that you were alive and well, and that you ran off again in _my_ direction. He called me to keep an eye out for you in case passed by. He knew that you would run past me, and that I would see you. If I had just left you, he would have been very upset, wouldn't you, Marik?" The tight-lipped smile that was sent his way was reminiscent of the anger Malik had shown earlier in his room. And right away, Marik knew that he was insinuating. The old Marik would have felt much the same on this matter as Malik did. Leave the girl. She was useless and would hinder any progress. Marik wanted to refute the claim, but it was the truth, and they both knew it.

"Even with that unfortunate piece of luck, if you had gotten in my way, I still would have left you there to die. I'm the more important person, in the end. Or, if the opportunity had arisen, I would have used you as bait. You'd have worked _wonderfully_," Malik purred. He stood right up against Natalie not, fingers tracing up and down her arms, and his lips pressed up to her cheek as he spoke. The poor girl was unmoving, shock written across her fearful face.

"So what it boils down to is that everything I've told you is a lie. If you thought I was rescuing you, I wasn't. If you thought that I cared about you or anything your mother had to say, I didn't. If you thought that I cared about _you_, I most certainly did not. My name is not Namu, but Malik Ishtar. Just like he is not Odion, but Marik. Neither of us cared anything at all about your little 'story,' and we weren't trying to find support for you or your mother. We didn't care. We just came because we had a job to do. Now you know. So leave!" Malik hissed. And leave Natalie did. The moment Malik uttered the command, with one huge sob, her whole body shook, and she broke free of her paralysis. Natalie left the house crying and slammed the door behind her. Malik glared at it for a bit, and then he too chose to leave and stomped back up into his room.

"So. What are we doing now?" Bakura questioned snidely.

"Shut the hell up," Marik snarled.

"I'm just asking a perfectly—"

"I don't really give a damn! Just shut—"

"Excuse me… Shouldn't we probably try to find her?" Ryou interrupted. Both Marik and Bakura closed their mouths and looked at the third teen that had spoken up. All Marik really wanted to do right now was get the two albino twins out of here and lay down on his bed. Maybe later he'd go talk to his own twin and try to convince him that this working together was still a good idea. But Ryou had a point. Of course he'd rather just let Natalie go cry, or whatever, but he was still sort of responsible for her in some way, right? He wasn't sure how, and didn't feel like bothering to figure it out either. He'd just so find the girl, calm her down, and then be right back. Sounded easy enough.

"All right. Okay. I'll go look for her. The two of you, just leave. Come back tomorrow or something. I'll talk to Malik," Marik sighed. Bakura looked like he was planning on saying more, but Ryou pushed him along. As they put on their shoes and left, Marik got his helmet and a jacket. Since the motorcycle was here, he would use it. It would be the fastest way of searching for Natalie.

Normally, Marik loved to ride his motorcycle and feel the wind rushing past him. Right now though, it just seemed like a hassle. He could vaguely remember the car that had been in the driveway of Mrs. Matawari's house, and it was that car that he searched for now. Without much success. Natalie would have gotten at most a ten-minute head start before Marik left. He was switching back and forth between different lanes now, searching for the car, so far he hadn't seen any sign of it. Marik cursed under his breath. He didn't have time for this! Why had she even come here? Had she seriously thought that Malik would want to see her? Stupid girl!

Someone honked their car horn at him as he cut them off. He swore again and flipped the man his finger. This task seemed more and more foolish by the second. Why the hell had he decided to listen to Ryou? Who cared if the girl was heartbroken or whatever? She wouldn't be the first Malik had made cry, women or man. She would just do back to her mother and get over it. It was foolish to go out here and actually search for her! Even if he _did_ find Natalie, what would he tell her?

Marik scowled and decided to just call it quits. Not his problem anyways. Of course, the moment he pulled in a driveway with the intent of turning around, he caught sight of the car. The bike engine idled beneath him as Marik waited. He started at the quickly diminishing form of the blue car, then cursed and headed after it, telling himself over and over that it was dumb. Malik was certainly right when he'd said he was different. When had he grown a conscious?

Marik stayed a close distance behind the car, muttering all the while that he should go back. Natalie was still driving, even though it had been a good twenty minutes that he'd been trailing her now. He had considered that she was just returning back to her house, but the idea didn't make too much sense. If she'd come here hoping to woo Malik, she'd need to be here longer than one day. And anyways, she was going the wrong way. He truly was tempted to just head back, but he knew that he wouldn't. He had no idea where Natalie was headed to, and the long drive was starting to feel suspicious. How so, he wasn't sure, but the hairs on the nape of his neck were tingling.

Marik smelled the ocean before he grew close enough to see it. He had followed Natalie to the docks. The blue car drove into a secluded warehouse. Marik came to a halt a few yards away and turned the bike off. He got off and leant it against the kickstand. Then he began to walk toward the warehouse. He was positive that something was wrong now, but he also knew that he had to keep going. He was sure that had been Natalie's car. So the real question became, who was driving it? He doubted that it was the girl. This didn't seem like the type of a place a girl like her would like to hang out. So if the driver wasn't Natalie, where was she?

Marik walked slowly up to the warehouse. He didn't think he was in any trouble, but he wished he had some kind of weapon here. He'd checked around the warehouse for something, but there hadn't even been a plank of wood. He'd have to go in empty-handed. He couldn't see much of the inside of the warehouse from where he was. It was completely dark on the inside. With an intake of air, Marik headed inside.

Nothing happened at first. Marik just kept walking forward. Then, when he got in far enough, the metal door behind him slammed shut, and the entire inside of the warehouse was drenched in black. A second later, a dim light came on, illuminating the warehouse enough for Marik to see, albeit not well. It was enough to make out the figures in front of him. The one he recognized was Natalie, bound and gagged and crying, bordered on either side by two men. One was holding a knife to her neck. Both were pale and looked nervous.

"Stop right there!" The one with the knife ordered. "Get rid of any weapons you have and raise your hands in the air!"

"Hey, calm down, all right? Why don't you put the knife down and take it easy, okay?" Marik questioned, taking a step forward. The man with the knife jabbed the weapon closer to the girl's neck, and Marik stopped.

"He said stay where you are! And get your hands up! Slowly!" The second one yelled. Marik did just that. He noted with some relief that the first man's grip on the weapon loosened, though Natalie continued to so as if it hadn't. Marik looked from one man to the other. He didn't recognize either. Both were young, but older than him. They didn't seem to have much of an idea as to what they were doing here, either. The one with the knife kept looking around uncertainly, and the one beside him was even more jittery. He would have to be careful here, and not push them too far. He wasn't sure what they wanted. Or what they would do.

"You want the girl back, right?" The first asked. "Right?"

"Yes, preferably uninjured," Marik answered.

"Then leave us the hell alone! That's all you gotta do. Just get outta here and promise you'll leave us alone, and we'll let the girl go, no problem," The first explained. Marik's eyes narrowed.

"I don't quite get what you mean here," He said.

"Don't fuck with us!" The second yelled. "We know you've been sneaking around here! You and that other chick! Don't play dumb not and act like you don't know what we mean! Just leave us the hell alone! We haven't done anything wrong, and you know it! We're just trying to live!"

"Look, I really don't have any clue what you're talking about here. Why don't you just drop the knife and let the girl go? Then we can leave, just like you want," Marik suggested. He took another step forward. Bad move. The man with the knife shoved it hard against Natalie's neck once more. He could hear her sob through the gag in her mouth.

"Do you think I won't kill her? You think I won't? Because if you keep playing games like you are, I will! Now, just leave us alone already!" The first man screamed.

Before Marik could even think of what to say in response to that, the man with the knife fell backwards to the floor. The knife fell to the ground with a clatter. The second man's jaw dropped open, and he turned to run. He too was brought to the ground, blood spraying out behind him. High heels clacked behind Marik on the concrete floor, and as Mai came into sight holding a specialized gun, he finally got a clue as to what was going on here.

The second man was trying to crawl away. Mai marched right up to him and kicked him over onto his back. She stood above him and raised the gun in front of her, then shot, sending the bullet straight through the man's heart. Through her gag, Natalie screamed.

* * *

Woot woot, new chapter! Okay, first of all, sorry for the sex scene. I know it was kind of really strange. Like, in one of my classes we read about Hegel, and all of a sudden he's been popping up in like, everything I write. The entire course was on transcendence as well, so there's a bit of that thrown in there. Aside from that, it also seemed to go in three stages. There was the Hegelian stuff, then the hot description, and then it suddenly degraded into sappy romance. Also, the thing with the feet... I hate feet. Really hate them. So it was awful trying to write that bit there, but I got through it!

Okay, one more thing. For those of you who read my baby _Deadly Ambivalence_, I've decided to put it on hiatus until this fanfic is done. It's about halfway finished now, and if I really try to spend more time updating, then I should be able to finish this one faster. Also, I kind of realized that I'm not quite one hundred percent sure of what I'm doing with it... This has been decided because of the poll I had on my profile. Since I didn't really advertise it anywhere, it was more or less voted upon by the people who happened upon my profile, which I'm sure isn't the best way to do it, but anyways... The majority of people seemed to like _Blood_ better than _DA_, (even though I like _Deadly Ambivalence_ better myself...) so I thought that I would concentrate on getting this one here finished before working on that. That will also give me some more time to think things through, because _DA_ is going to require quite a bit of thinking to go into the plot. But yeah, I believe that is it now! So, I will hopefully see you all soon! Oh, and big big thank you for the one hundred reviews! You guys all rock! I love all my readers, but I especially adore all of the ones that leave reviews X3 This is the first one hundred reviews I've ever gotten, so I'm very happy! Let's see if we can reach two hundred, haha! See you guys all soon! Hope you like the chapter, and please review! Thank you!


	13. His Dirty Past pt 1

Well hello hello! Updating sooner than usual! Like, instead of taking six months, I think it only took me three? Still a while, but it's better than before I guess. And this chapter is the longest one yet! Yaaaaaayyyyy. I just spent all of today typing it up too XP Not fun. One thing before I let you get started. When you see Yami pop up, I know it's strange, but there will be an explanation for it at the bottom! So just deal until then.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Only Natalie. And Amun. But they kind of suck, and aren't important at all.

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While Mai was hacking the heads off the two vampires, Marik was untying Natalie. When he'd reached the girl she had flinched away from him like she thought he were planning on killing her next. When he'd taken the gag out of her mouth, he'd discovered that she was hyperventilating.

"Could you _not_ do that right now?" Marik questioned in annoyance as Mai sawed her way through gristle and bone. Every time a particularly gruesome noise was heard, Natalie violently shook and looked like she was inching closer and closer to slipping into shock. Marik wished she would just pass out already. Maybe he should do something about that…

"Sorry kiddo, no can do. Gotta make sure they're really dead. You know how it is. If you're so worried about her though, why don't you take her out of here?" Mai suggested as another splatter of blood ruined her purple outfit. She was more alike Malik than Marik had originally thought.

"I would, but what if there are more of them in the area? This is the second time she'd been kidnapped by them, you know," Marik replied, rolling his eyes. Mai looked up at him for a second before betting back to the job before her.

"That so? Well, tough shit for her. But I'm pretty sure there aren't any others, so you won't have anything to worry about. I want to talk to her, so don't leave just yet," She said.

"We'll be in her car then," Marik muttered, turning back to Natalie. She was trembling violently and her blue eyes were wide and unseeing. Great. Now to begin the task of coaxing her into her car. Marik tried to get her to stand on her own, but she was adamantly against this. The moment Marik got her even a inch off the ground, she tightened her muscles and dropped straight back down. Eventually, Marik was forced to pick her up. When he did this, Natalie screamed and shrieked while simultaneously trying to choke him. Mai glared at him as he left the warehouse, as if the racket she was making were completely his fault, and not at all hers. With much effort expended on his part, Marik finally got her into the car. Thank Ra the door was unlocked.

When Mai finally finished up and entered the car, Natalie had clamed down a bit. Apparently, the hunter had brought a spare outfit with her, for there was now not a trace of blood to be seen on her. That was definitely a good thing, because Marik was sure that Natalie would have freaked if she'd seen any. As it was, her breathing had returned to normal, and her shaking had subsided to what were now only small quivers.

"You doing all right, honey?" Mai asked when she came in. Marik stared in amazement. Her personality had done a sudden one-eighty. Natalie didn't notice, only nodded brokenly.

"I know it might be hard, but I'm going to need you to explain to me exactly what happened," Mai said. Natalie nodded slowly and said nothing. Her body trembled minutely, and her blue eyes started out the windshield. Just as Marik figured that she wasn't going to be explaining anything any time soon, she began to speak. Her voice was small and weak, and he had to strain to actually hear what the shocked girl had to say.

"I was upset when I left the house. I was crying when I left, and not paying attention to my surroundings. I just wanted to get to my car and… and leave. I wanted to go somewhere. …They came down from the trees. One of them grabbed my hands and held them behind my back. The other covered my mouth. They led me to the car and shoved me in the backseat, then started driving. I didn't know where we were going. I came here with my mother's GPS unit.

"They took me here, inside the warehouse. It was dark inside, and I couldn't see anything. I… I was really scared. All I could hear were voices. I didn't know what was going on, or what was going to happen to me." Natalie's whispering stopped at this point. Marik figured that there likely wasn't much else accompanying her story. The two teens wouldn't have had much time to do anything besides get Natalie where they wanted. He had been right behind them on his bike, and at most, he only took about two minutes before heading into the warehouse himself.

"Do you remember what they said to each other before Marik came in to help you?" Mai asked gently. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulders to comfort her. Marik tried to hide his eye roll at the surprise tenderness Mai was showing. The act she was putting on was completely different than the way she normally acted, and in comparison to her usual attitude, this Mai was hopelessly fake.

"I… I'm not sure. I was scared. I wasn't paying attention. But they were nervous. They knew you were coming," Natalie whispered. She shuddered then, and wrapped her arms around herself. Her head lowered to her knees. This was probably the most they would get out of her. Mai had reached the same conclusion, for in an instant she dropped her caring and gentle act. There was a certain spark in her eyes now. She was ready to get the job done.

"She came from your house, correct? So then how did this happen, Marik? You have traps set up to prevent this sort of thing from happening, don't you?" Mai questioned, serious now. All pretenses were dropped.

"We do," Marik nodded, "but Natalie said that they came from the trees. We don't have anything placed higher then thirty meters on most. We figured we wouldn't need to. Higher then that and the sun should reach them."

"Well it obviously didn't. Unless you're saying that those two were resistant to the sun's rays. And I sure hope you aren't suggesting that, boy," Mai sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair. Marik kept his features schooled perfectly still, but inwardly he was grimacing. He'd hoped Mai wouldn't come to that conclusion, yet it seemed to be the only reasonable one there was. But was it possible? The two Marik had seen gave off the impression of youth. It had taken Bakura and Ryou years to build up that kind of resistance to sunlight. If it was becoming easier for vampires to do, then that information needed to be known. But… he couldn't let it. Not if he wanted to keep his friends safe.

"That's impossible," He insisted. "They must have burnt themselves reaching Natalie. There's no other way they would have been able to do it."

"I didn't see any burns on the bodies," Mai mused thoughtfully.

"It was dark in there, even with the door opened. You must have just missed it," Marik said.

"Maybe…" Mai still sounded unconvinced, but she let the matter drop. That would have to be good enough. Even if Mai still had her doubts, as long as she didn't bring it up again he should be safe. Hopefully, with the two vampires gone, Mai would be leaving soon. He had enough to worry about with Gourou looking into his and Malik's past. Mai leaving would be the best news he would receive at this point. Then there would be no further reason to worry about Bakura and Ryou's true identities being found out.

"I'll take care of the girl. Once she's calmed down some, I want to ask her a few more questions. See if she can remember anything more about the conversation those two were having. Tell your bother that I'll be stopping by soon to talk to him about a few things," Mai said. Marik nodded and hopped out of the car. He watched as Mai got Natalie settled into the passenger seat of the car, then spoke with her for a few moments before getting out and walking around the front.

"Oh Marik! Almost forgot, there was something else I wanted to ask you. Your brother mentioned something about you not hunting anymore. He said on the last mission the four of you went on, you had a vamp cornered and everything, but you couldn't do it. He thought you looked about ready to blow chunks. It struck me as off that he'd say you reacted so violently, but you looked just fine earlier. You rushed in there without checking the scene first, but you were very level-headed through the entire thing. What made you freak out so badly last time? And if you're serious about not doing these types of things anymore, why didn't it happen this time?" Mai asked with a smirk. Marik's mouth twitched. When he got back, he was going to kill Malik for telling her that. Mai was suspicious enough without him telling her unnecessary information.

"I am serious when I sat I'm done hunting. But nothing happened to make me act differently that day. I'd just had a bad day, and I lost it. That was it. I'm sure Malik made it sound very bad though, didn't he?" Marik questioned, lips curled into a grin. Mai's didn't falter one bit as she agreed.

"That must have been it."

And then she hopped into the car, and with a wave was off. Marik headed to his own bike and climbed atop it. He pulled his helmet on and started the bike.

Mai did have a point about the difference between his attitude today and on his last mission. Now that he was actually thinking about it, he was a bit surprised that he had taken the whole thing as well as he had. But then, this had been the type of thins he was used to, in all its gore and morbidity. He hadn't been using Dead Man's Blood or facing flashbacks of Bakura the entire time. Natalie had been there with him as well, and her presence right beside him forced him to concentrate on her and think of how to get her away from those two safely. He hadn't had the time to think of anyone else, or to second-guess what was happening. And then Mai had come in and killed them.

He was glad that he hadn't lost it like last time. He'd concentrated on Natalie and so had acted like he normally did on hunts. Marik was glad that he'd been in control, but he couldn't help thinking that if he'd paid a bit more attention to the words the two had been saying… They didn't need to die. There would have been no talking Mai out of it, but perhaps if he'd listened, he could have saved both Natalie and the two vampires. They'd said that they hadn't done anything wrong, that they'd just been trying to live… Mai had known that there were vampires, but she'd never found any bodies to prove that. And she never would have. Because they had been the same as Bakura and Ryou. And he could have saved them, had he listened.

00000

The twins had almost returned to their apartment when Bakura decided that it would be a good idea to head back. Ryou wasn't exactly sure of what this would accomplish, but Bakura would not be deterred.

"Don't you want to know what's going on? You were the one who suggested that we go find the girl," Bakura pointed out.

"Well I did, but Marik went after her, and he must have left twenty minutes ago. I don't think we would be able to find them now," Ryou said. Bakura sighed and rolled his eyes, then grabbed his brother by the shoulders, spun him around, and began to march the both of them back to the Ishtar house.

"Bakura!" Ryou protested.

"Come on Ryou! You don't want to be left out of the loop, do you? Something's going on! And what about when that Natalie chick comes back? You really want her to be all alone with the porcupine?" Bakura questioned, raising an eyebrow. Even though Ryou doubted that much of anything would happen upon Natalie's return with how Malik had chased her out, the way his brother said the question made it sound like a distinct possibility. He couldn't help his hand from traveling up to his hair and twirling a strand of white around his fingers. And when Bakura saw that telling sign, a victorious smirk reached his lips and he dragged Ryou forward.

"B-but only Malik is there right now! Marik probably hasn't even gotten back yet! There's no reason to leave now!" Ryou called out.

"Perfect time for you to ask what all that stuff earlier was about then. You _do_ want to know, don't you?" His brother asked, stopping to look into Ryou's brown eyes. Ryou's feet fell flat against the pavement, and for a moment his gaze trailed downward.

"But…"

"But nothing! Ryou, if you really want something, then you have to go for it! You can't just leave porcupine for that girl to snatch up. And besides," Bakura sniffed, somehow managing to sound unconcerned with the entire prospect, "we never convinced him to let us help anyways."

"Bakura. You heard what Natalie said about how she met Marik and Malik, didn't you? She said that Malik saved her. And she called them by fake names. They probably know her because they saved her from vampires. If that's true, then both of the twins won't like it if we ask questions. Malik won't be easy to convince if he's angry. Maybe we should wait for Marik to return," Ryou suggested, trying to be serious. He _did_ want to go and see Malik and talk to him, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. And this was his last chance to convince Bakura of this as well. But from the look his brother had on his face, Ryou guessed that this was not going to happen.

"You're going to give in, are you?" Ryou laughed softly.

"Nope."

"All right then," He sighed. He knew that this was still not a good idea, but there was no stopping Bakura once he really got his mind set on something. So although Ryou was still very much of the opinion that they should just head to their own apartment, he found himself following after Bakura anyways. He really hoed that either Marik would be back, or that Bakura had a plan for what he was going to say to Malik, because going in blind was suicide. Malik was not in the best of moods when they'd left, and Ryou doubted that he would be when they came back. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to say when they got there! "Hey, mind telling me what all that Natalie business was about?" Yeah, he didn't think that would work.

Well, one way or another, the two brothers were on their way back to the Ishtar household. And Ryou still had no idea what to say. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Malik, because he did, but he wanted to see him under better circumstances. Or at least he'd like to.

"Stop worrying so much, Ryou. Things will be fine," Bakura said to him. Ryou sighed and wished he could be so carefree.

When they knocked on the door no one came down to open it at first. Ryou suggested that maybe they should leave, but Bakura grinned and knocked again. Eventually Malik came down wearing a scowl plastered across his face. He looked at the two of them for a moment before shutting the door in their faces. Or he would have, had not Bakura stuck his arm in the path of the door.

"Want to let us in?" He asked with a pained smile.

"If you don't remove your arm, I will keep closing this door until it breaks," Malik responded flatly.

"Please Malik, could you let us come in? We wanted to talk to you about your problem and how we can help," Ryou explained. Malik's scowl darkened and he pressed the door harder against Bakura's arm. Ryou's eyes traveled to his brother as he bit his lip. Because of what they were, Bakura's arm would not give easily, but the pressure being put on it was sure to hurt greatly. Bakura masked it easily enough, but Ryou knew he was in pain.

"My brother may have told you that your assistance would be useful, but we don't need it. The two of us are perfectly capable of handling our own messes without the likes of you two. We do not need your _help_," Malik spat venomously.

"I know! I'm sure that you both can handle things on your own, but we want to help! Both of us are good friends with Marik, and we don't like seeing him troubled or worried. We offered to help because we _are_ his friends. And, I'd like to help you too, Malik. I'd like to be your friend as well. So if you could please let us in…" Ryou said, voice faltering. He'd said all he could think of now. The rest was up to Malik.

The younger of the two Egyptians did not open the door to let them in, but he did stop pressing it harder against Bakura's arm. Ryou could see that the flesh not covered up by his clothes had reddened. Malik stood silently in front of them, his dark mauve eyes traveling back and forth between the two. The scowl was still apparent on his face, but it didn't appear as intense as it had been before. All in all, Ryou thought this was a pretty good sign.

"You can come in," Malik announced finally. He let go of the door handle, but still did not move from the frame. His expression had become unreadable, and his eyes were now focused solely on Ryou. He blushed under the other's intense scrutiny, but successfully fought the urge to look away. Instead, he kept his gaze, threw his timid nature out the window. He watched as Malik apparently came to some decision and the fog in his eyes cleared up. His solemn expression faded and his lips split open into an eerie caricature of a grin.

"Just don't expect me to listen to anything you have to say," He finished, moving out of the way for the two albino twins to enter. Again Ryou found himself in Marik's house, but without Marik here, it felt that much darker somehow.

"So the two of you want to help. Do you even know what our little 'problem' is?" Marik questioned, crossing his arms.

"Your bother isn't very good at keeping his hands to himself. He took something that doesn't belong to him, and now he needs to give it back," Bakura explained shortly. Malik's grin widened, and he took something out of his pocket. It was a blank folded up envelope. From the look on Bakura's face when he noticed it, he had seen it before.

"Did my brother tell you about this? What Gourou is threatening us with?" Malik asked, waving the paper from the inside of the envelop in front of himself. "No? Let me tell you a little something then. It's a police report. Marik has one exactly like it. The two of us were rather bad back when we lived in Egypt. Did he ever tell you that the two of us were the leaders of a gang? Has Marik told you both anything about our past? No?" His smile widened, obviously loving every moment of what he was saying. Ryou didn't look at his brother's face. He knew that Marik was closer to Bakura than he, but he was certain that Bakura knew none of the things Malik was talking about. And it hurt. It hurt to realize that neither of them really knew much about the Marik of the past. They knew the Marik of Domino City, more than Malik surely thought they did, but had Marik ever once really mentioned anything about his past? Why had he and his family moved to Japan? It was a long ways away from Egypt, and the culture was completely different. Did their move have anything to do with the gang Malik mentioned them running?

"The two of you don't know anything about us. So should you really be offering to help us? We could be the villains in this story for all you know," Malik finished up. Ryou couldn't help but to stare at him. He knew that Marik's younger brother didn't get along with the two of them, but why was he acting this way? Why couldn't he just accept that they genuinely wished to help? Why, why? It was all Ryou could think to ask, and he wanted so much to find out. To have the chance to find out. He wanted to break through Malik's walls and find out what made him tick. He wanted to find out how he could be so similar, yet so different from Marik. And most of all, he wanted to be able to hug this being, because every time Ryou saw him, he couldn't shake off the feeling of loneliness that came from him. He wanted to say something to him, something to portray the way he felt and why he wanted to help, but Bakura spoke before he could even fathom how to get the right words out.

"True, we might not know anything about you and Marik, but it works both ways. You don't know anything about the kind of shit Ryou and I have been through, and I doubt you ever will. So don't give me this shit about the two of you being the villains, because for all _you_ know we could be the same damn thing. Marik is important to me, and whether you want me to or not, I'm going to help him out if something's bothering him. You're fucking lucky that he cares about you as much as he doesn't, because I don't give a damn about helping you. I'm here for Marik, and Marik only," Bakura sneered. He'd taken a step forward, and Ryou was readying himself to step in should a fight break out. Malik's expression had turned furious, but he did not appear ready to brawl.

"We're helping him break into the museum and put the items back. If you're that against us coming, then stay back," Bakura finished. His eyes were hard and glaring, and would doubt be burning a fierce red if he and Ryou did not have to hide what they were. Ryou wanted to tell him to stop getting so angry. Malik's comments about how little they knew Marik had angered his brother greatly, but didn't he see? That was the only thing Malik could say. He was lonely, so lonely. He had a sister and a brother, but the only one he really had was his twin. And Marik was slowly leaving him, wasn't he? The only thing Malik could do was flaunt that he still knew Marik better than they did. He didn't want to lose his brother. But Bakura couldn't see that, because Bakura was too busy being angry for the same reason. Both wanted Marik all to themselves, and Ryou wanted to scream to both of them to just stop, because they could both have him.

"He doesn't need you. The two of you won't be any help," Malik said.

"I don't care. I'm still going," Bakura stated. The two glared and Ryou wished that he knew what to say, because he didn't want Malik and Bakura to hate each other. He didn't want to have to choose between one.

"Both of you, stop it!" He said. Either paid any attention to him, and he felt foolish for butting in when he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything. But he had to try something, because they couldn't be like this. "This is getting us nowhere! We should be discussing how to solve this, not bickering amongst ourselves! We need to work together!"

"I already told you that we don't need your help. I don't care how _important_ he is to you, Marik doesn't need either of you! He doesn't need any 'friends!' He got by perfectly fine without any before, and he doesn't need any now! _I_ will go with him to the museum and _I_ will help him figure a way out of the mess he's in. We don't need the likes of you!" Malik roared, not once taking his eyes off Bakura.

Ryou wasn't sure why he did what he did next. He was sick of no one paying attention and he was sick of standing there and not helping the situation any. He wasn't aware that he had moved until Malik's dark eyes were looking down at him in shock, and then he noticed that he was touched the other teen. His arms were on Malik's shoulders and he was forcing the taller teen to look at him, only though now that he finally was, his mind had cleared itself of all it wanted to say. Ryou was so lost in velvet mauve and his amusement at how simple it had all been to surprise Malik just by touching him. Then he saw the loneliness again, and the smile that had been playing on his lips was gone and he remembered it all.

"I want to help you, Malik," Ryou announced solemnly, slowly, enunciating each word. "I want to help Marik because he is my friend and because he'd important to me. But I want to help you because you're also important to me. I understand that you are used to being alone, and only having Marik beside you, but things don't have to be like that anymore. You have people here who like you and want to help you if you need it. I want to be your friend, Malik. I want to get to know you. And I want to help you. Not because I pity you, or think you won't be able to handle things by yourself, but because you're important to me. So let me help you."

And then he let the other teen go, because again he had placed the ball in Malik's court. He hadn't said all that he needed to say, but he'd said enough, and now it was up to Malik.

Malik stood where Ryou had left him, in the same shape that Ryou had left him in. Eyes wide and expression startled, it was almost a comical scene if Ryou didn't feel like his heart was going to explode. All the strength he'd shown in the last minute had evaporated and left him far more unsure of anything than he'd ever been. He wanted to know Malik, and although he fathomed that he could understand him somewhat, he could easily be missing pieces, just like with Marik. Was that the right thing to have done? Or did it just further Malik from him even more? He had no idea how the Egyptian would react, and if it was badly, that was all his fault. He and Bakura never should have come.

"Malik, I…" He thought that he should say something, but what? He wasn't sorry for saying what he had, but he wanted Malik to say something now. He didn't like seeing him standing there like that.

The sound of the front door opening distracted them all. The knob turning cut through the tension in the room as effectively as a plastic butter knife through a thick raw steak, but Marik didn't appear to notice it when he came in. He looked troubled, but when he caught sight of the three of them, his vulnerable expression hardened instantly.

"What are the two of you doing here? I thought you left," Marik asked, sounding vaguely suspicious.

"We came back. We wanted to know what's going on. Until you got back, we figured we'd try out luck at convincing your brother that us helping the two of you is a damn good idea," Bakura butted in, deciding to take over the conversation from this point forward.

"Both of you need to leave," Marik said.

"Leave? But we just got—"

"I don't care, Bakura! Leave! You and Ryou both!" Marik yelled. The outburst silenced Bakura and anyone else who may have thought about objecting. Marik's shoulders were shaking, but in a second he had contained his emotion and was looking calm again. "I just need to talk to my brother. Alone. I'll see you tomorrow at school and figure something out then. For now, I just need you to leave."

Bakura was hurt. Ryou could tell it in the way his eyes looked for a moment, in the involuntary step he took backwards. His brother's hands twitched at his sides, rose and inch, then fell back lifelessly to the same position they had been in. Bakura's face was blank for a second, and then his usual smirk was sitting sarcastically on his lips. The entire process happened so quickly that Ryou doubted Marik had even caught a glimpse of it. Marik did not realize it, but he had just chosen Malik over Bakura in the argument they'd been having just before his arrival. Marik did not catch it, but the other three occupants of the room did. With a quick glance behind him, Ryou saw that Malik now too was grinning.

"Sure, whatever we'll go. The two of you have fun with each other," Bakura sneered. His hateful gaze left Marik and he gestured to Ryou, who nodded. With a look back at the other two brothers, Ryou and Bakura left the house.

Bakura did not talk on the way back. This was fine with Ryou, because he did not want to either. He wondered what had happened to upset Marik so much. Something else must have occurred when he'd gone to pick up Natalie, or else the girl had said something. Ryou wondered if it had anything to do with the two Egyptian teen's past. More than that, he wondered when he and Bakura would get to know whatever it was the two of them were hiding. With how secretive the two were, they may never. Ryou looked up at the back of his brother. Bakura must feel even worse about it. He jogged up to the other and placed an arm on his shoulder.

"I'm sure Marik will explain everything tomorrow," He said cheerily. Bakura's pace slowed for a second before resuming a normal speed, and his angled his face toward his brother. He still wore the same derisive smirk he had around the other two twins, and he laughed.

"What makes you think that I care, Ryou?' He questioned sardonically.

"You are Marik are well… you're together. You aren't supposed to keep things like that from your significant other," Ryou said. Bakura scoffed.

"Stop talking like that. You make it sound like we're life partners or something," He said with a grimace. "If he doesn't want to say anything, then he doesn't need to. I don't give a damn. He'd not important enough for me to allow my feelings to get hurt." The statement ended in a growl, and by this admission Ryou figured their talk was over. He knew that Bakura felt more than he was letting on, but he supposed it had been foolhardy on his part to expect his brother to actually open up to him. The years hadn't changed him all that much. Ryou hoped that perhaps Marik would be able to change that, but it looked like their Egyptian friend had problems of his own. And then there was Malik. Cute, lonely Malik, who Ryou might have messed everything up with.

00000

Malik didn't make it a hobby to be happy to see his brother. True, his twin was the one he could stand to have around on most occasions, more so then his other two siblings, but that was only because they _were_ twins. Marik was his other half, and he had to appreciate that. The others annoyed him to no end, but Marik, Marik was special. Marik was the only one who would understand him and not look at him the way the others did. They thought he was insane, crazy, and likely to go off at any minute. They were afraid of him. They had a right to be, of course, but he still didn't like the look. He'd even seen it on the other siblings. But Marik didn't look at him that way. Not when they'd done the things they had in Egypt, and not here when he'd choked him. There had been fear—it was a normal human reaction—but not that look. That look Malik hated.

The asshole's brother didn't look at him that way. If there was any one person Malik figured would, it was that brat. He was so _nice_, so _trustworthy_, so _naïve_, and ready to see the best in everyone. Malik knew this. He didn't need to know the boy to know how he acted. He could sense the ones that were like that, and Ryou was. Malik didn't like the people that were like that. He liked to show them how wrong they were. Show them the true monster he kept under wraps, the one that even Marik didn't get to see. Because then Marik would give him that _look_, and he didn't want that. He wondered if Ryou would show him the look if he saw.

Malik watched with a grin as the two intruders left. His brother stood silently still before sinking down to the couch with a sigh. His face showed that he was troubled, but Malik didn't put much thought into this, for there was always something bothering his brother. More so than recently.

He asked himself if he wanted the asshole's brother to see the true him. Did he want the brat to look at him like that? He thought of Ryou's features. Ryou was pretty in a way that the asshole was not. His features were soft and pliable. He was meek and quiet. He reminded Malik of his brother. How would he look with his eyes full of fright? Would his pink lips tremble slightly as he grew more and more terrified to see that inner monster? Would he take small steps back, hands raised, or would he just turn and run?

"Something happened," Malik said. He watched as his brother looked at him and a frown passed quickly across his face.

"You're going to think it's stupid," He said. Malik didn't need to say that he fully agreed. Most of what Malik did now he thought was stupid.

He wanted to know what Ryou would do if he were to put him in that situation. He didn't want to know. He didn't know how Ryou would react. He didn't like that. He wanted the upper hand. But Ryou confused him. The asshole was easy enough to read, but Ryou was an enigma, just like Malik's brother. More and more often now Malik could not read him. He did not like that. Marik was _his_. He should _always_ be able to read him. He should _always_ know what was on his mind. Always. But he could not. Marik was moving further and further away, and it was all the fault of that damn Bakura. He thought he should kill the man.

"Mai will be visiting soon to talk to you," Marik announced after a pause. "Natalie was taken by vampires after she left our house. I have no idea how they got her. They must have stayed up in the trees. I followed were van to an abandoned warehouse down by the pier. Mai came in and killed them. They said something about knowing that I've been sneaking around. I think they thought I was you."

Malik processed the information. He felt the dull anger perpetually driving him forward heat. He'd missed out on the action again. His catch, and he'd missed it because he hadn't gone after the idiotic girl like his foolish brother. How utterly stupid.

"…That woman and I have been keeping an eyes on the warehouse you spoke of. We didn't think we'd been noticed," He said. His brother nodded like he'd thought that this was the fact.

Ryou confused him. He didn't know what to expect from Ryou. Ryou had caught him by surprise. It did not surprise him that he and the asshole would want to help. The asshole was offering only so he could continue to fuck his brother, but the other was doing so because that was the type of person he was. That did not surprise Malik. But then Ryou had touched him. That had startled him. For a moment, he'd been afraid. For a moment, he hadn't known what to do. People did not touch him. He was a terrifying monster, and no one wanted to touch something like that. Marik touched him. He liked it when Marik touched him, so he touched Marik back. Ryou had touched him too. Ryou had touched him, and Ryou hadn't been afraid of him. What did that all mean? He didn't understand.

"They said to me that they hadn't done anything wrong. They said that they were just trying to live. I don't think they drank human blood. I think they only killed animals, and they were trying to tell me that, but I didn't listen. Mai came and killed them." His brother's voice sounded strange. It sounded heavy, or foggy. Malik didn't like it. He didn't like it when Marik sounded like this. Marik never used to sound like this in the past.

"Good riddance," Malik sneered. He sent his anger away. Concentrated on his more bloodthirsty aspect. He would show Malik the way to act. The way he was supposed to be.

"Do you think we should have killed them?" Marik asked, his head raising to look at his twin. "If they aren't doing anything to harm us, do you think that we should still kill them? I… don't think we should. I don't think those two should have had to die."

"They all should," Malik said, eyes darkening. He crossed his arms. His brother moved on the couch, sat up a little straighter and looked at him. "They should all die. They don't deserve a chance to exist. They need to be eradicated." But Marik thought they shouldn't. Marik was different, ever since they had gone to save that girl the first time. Marik used to be beautiful. Marik used to be perfect. Marik used to be next to him, and they were feared, and they would rule over the others and laugh and kill them. Marik used to be perfect. But something happened. "They should all die."

Was Ryou perfect? He didn't know why he would even consider it. Ryou was worse than his brother. Marik would never sink that far. But Ryou touched him. Ryou was not afraid. Ryou wanted to be beside him, didn't he? Marik no longer did. More and more, Marik was leaving him. He was moving further and further away. Malik could no longer understand him like he used to. But Ryou…

"I keep thinking of Egypt now," Marik was saying. Malik forced himself to listen. "It's not just because of all this Gourou shit. It's also because of them. The same thing happened. If I had listened back in Egypt, I could have saved him as well."

"He deserved what he got," Malik said, and he hoped that Marik wouldn't disagree with him. Because if he did not, it would be like he didn't even know the other.

"I know that," Marik said, and Malik's anger dissipated some. His brother was still his. Changed, but still his. "I just can't help thinking of him. It's like his face has never been clearer."

Malik wondered. What would it take to bring Ryou to him? If the asshole was stealing his brother away bit by bit, then didn't he deserve to have someone? Someone who would see him, and not give him that look? He knew that he was a monster and a beast, but didn't creatures like him deserve at least one person, even if they made the world that much darker? He had always thought that person would be Marik. His other. But Marik was going away. And Ryou was coming in for a closer look. So maybe, Malik thought, he should let him see. Show him the monster. Put the ball in Ryou's hands. What would he do? Malik longed to find out.

00000

When Marik entered the classroom of his first class the next day, he was surprised to see that Bakura was not yet in his seat. Marik knew that he and Ryou didn't like to drive their car very often, so he'd always assumed that the two either took a bus or walked, though the high school was a bit far away. Whatever their preferred mode of transportation, the two twins always arrived earlier than the Ishtars did. Maybe they did take a bus in the mornings, and had been late in catching it today. Or the bus could have broken down. He'd told Bakura that he would talk to him later today, so he didn't think that the other would just skip. It wasn't like he was home sick.

Malik was taking a seat at his own spot a table away. His younger sibling didn't look at him or offer any opportunity for talk. True to her word, Mai had stopped over yesterday and had talked to Malik about what Marik had already told him earlier. Marik could only assume that his brother's silence stemmed from anger. He'd missed out on helping Mai, and Marik had finally managed to convince him that the two should let Bakura and Ryou help them out. It had been surprisingly easier than Marik had thought it would be to do. His brother seemed distracted by something, but Marik didn't have an inkling of what that could be. He'd never really been able to understand the things that went on in his brother's head.

Marik sighed and laid his head down on his desk. Bakura didn't seem to be coming any time soon, and he was tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night. He'd been kept up by thoughts of vampires and the Ghouls back in Egypt. This Gourou stuff needed to be dealt with soon. It was affecting all of them, except for maybe Malik. Which was why Bakura needed to get here! At least Mai would be leaving soon. That was one problem out of the way.

When the teacher got in and class started, Marik was forced to get off his desk and pay attention. He pulled out his textbook and tried to listen to whatever his decrepit teacher was talking about, but it really wasn't easy. About five minutes later, it was made even harder by the appearance of none other than Bakura himself. The teen entered the classroom in a hurry, and with a very angry scowl on his face. His white hair looked even messier than usual, and when Marik tried to get his attention he just stormed past and handed a slip of paper to the teacher before taking a seat. Away from Marik.

Marik was more than a little startled, to say the least. Ever since the two of them had started talking enough to realize that they didn't hate one another, Bakura had always sat beside him. That was the reason Malik had stopped sitting beside him. Even on days when they'd irritated the other, Bakura still always sat next to Marik. So why wouldn't he do so now? And he'd been late in coming in, too. Marik definitely smelled something suspicious, but he had no clue what he could have done to piss the other off, if that was the case. But he would be finding out, that was for certain.

When the first class ended, Bakura escaped from the room before Marik even had a chance to catch up. By the time he got into the hallway, the vampiric teen was already out of sight. Marik scowled. This meant that he really was avoiding him for some reason.

Marik didn't see him again until lunch. Bakura normally disappeared for lunch, but Marik sure to keep an eye out for the telltale shock of white hair in the crowds. The minute he saw it, Marik headed towards the person. Luckily enough for him, it was Bakura he picked out and not Ryou.

The vampire didn't look particularly pleased to see him. He stood off to the side of the lunchroom, as if he were expecting their meeting to be a short one. He had an eyebrow quirked and an amused smirk in place, the same expression he would probably make if he were being forced to humor someone that was obviously wrong. Yet there was a sort of coldness to his entire stance and persona, making Marik pay extra attention to him. Bakura really wasn't' making any sort of effort to conceal his anger, but Marik still had no idea just _what_ it was that he'd done.

"You weren't here this morning," Marik announced. Bakura laughed at him. The sound was high-pitched and frigid, sending a chill down Marik's back. Since he'd really gotten to know Bakura, he hadn't ever heard him laugh like this. The laughter that Bakura always did around him was a deep, warm seductive sound that sometimes gave him chills for a completely different reason.

"Brilliant observation there, Marik. Yes, Ryou and I were running late today," Bakura smiled harshly.

"You didn't sit by me either," Marik pointed out.

"No, I didn't," Bakura sneered sarcastically. Marik took a deep breath to keep himself from yelling at the teen in front of him right then and there. He was purposefully being a bastard and not giving him any information to work with here.

"Bakura," Marik started, taking a step forward to the other. The male in front of him merely raised his eyebrow higher, while his smirk grew colder. "What the hell is your problem today? If I've done something to piss you off, why don't you tell me that it is that I've done instead of being a bitch about it." Bakura's eyes narrowed before he laughed again.

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I just figured you would want to spend more time with your brother," Bakura said. Marik could hear the bitterness in his voice, but it was surprising all the same.

"_That's_ the reason you're so pissed? Because I sent you away yesterday? Bakura's, that's just stupid!" Marik exclaimed. Bakura appeared startled by his words. Then his cheeks pinkened and he turned his face away with a huff. Marik probably would have laughed at the scene if he hadn't been so pissed off about it all. Bakura had been avoiding him because he had wanted to talk to his brother? That was just stupid! He'd expected something important to have angered Bakura so much, not something so trivial.

"That's not it!' Bakura hissed venomously. Marik just shook his head. Now he didn't even care. He was irritated enough as it was with all the crap Gourou was pulling, and having to worry about whatever Mai and his brother had been looking for. He wasn't going to waste his time on trying to cheer Bakura up when he was angry for something so simple. He had Gourou to concentrate on. He was the biggest problem, and the one that needed to be taken care of the soonest. Which was the reason he had been searching out Bakura in the first place.

"You know what, I don't even care. I only came here to tell you what I said I would explain yesterday. I talked to Malik yesterday after the two of you left and managed to convince him that you and Ryou will be coming with us no matter what. The two of us decided it would be better to resolve this issue as soon as possible so Gourou couldn't bother our sister anymore. We'll be going tonight. If you're coming, then meet us at the museum at around two a.m. If you don't want to come, then don't. Malik and I will be fine by ourselves," Marik explained causally. He turned to leave, but Bakura grabbed an arm and spun him around.

"We'll be there. I told you that I would help, and I'm not going to take that back now," Bakura said lowly. Marik's eyes narrowed and he removed Bakura's hand from him.

"Maybe by then you'll be done with your tantrum." He said coldly, and then left Bakura standing there. He head a growl sounding from behind him, but he didn't stop to give the other the satisfaction of knowing that he'd heard.

00000

Night fell soon enough after the two Ishtars twins returned home from school. Both brothers behaved themselves for the rest of the day and went to bed fairly early. Marik had the sneaking suspicion that Isis and Rishid thought something was up, but because both he and Malik hadn't done anything wrong the two couldn't say anything to either of them. They were now waiting for time to pass so that they could head out the museum.

Marik didn't know if his brother got any sleep before it was time for them to leave, but he didn't. He was still angry at Bakura for being at him for such a foolish reason. It made no sense to be mad at him for wanting to talk to Malik, no matter from what angle he looked. It wasn't like he was dating his brother, at any rate. He almost wished that neither Bakura not Ryou would be there. This really wasn't anyone's problem but his and his brother's to handle, and so it should really just be the two of them to handle it. But he doubted that Bakura wouldn't show, especially not after the comment he'd made earlier saying otherwise. Either way, hopefully the trip to the museum wouldn't take a long time.

At 1:15 Marik's alarm clock went off, and he hurriedly grabbed the bag he'd stashed the Sennen Items in after removing them from beneath his floorboard. All seven shone merrily up at him, even in the sparse moonlight. After tonight they would once again be stuck behind a glass enclosure, or locked away in Gourou's own private collection. Probably better than being under his floor, but not by much. He didn't want to give them up. They were a testament to the last great crime he'd committed. But he couldn't have Gourou constantly breathing down his back. Not when the man and his police report served as a constant reminder of the crime he wished he could forget. Marik closed the bag without another look at the seven, then left his room.

Malik was already waiting for him in the hallway. He cast a glance at the bag against Marik's back, and then silently crept down the stairs. Marik followed. The two twins left the house without any trouble. Rishid was a heavy sleeper, whereas Isis was such a light one that she wore earplugs throughout the night. Even if the two twins had made any noise, their older siblings wouldn't have heard. After successfully sneaking out of the house, the two made it to the museum six minutes before two. Bakura and Ryou were already there waiting.

The two brothers were dressed head-to-toe in black, same as the Ishtars. But whereas Marik and Malik managed to conceal themselves quite well in the dark, even with their white hair pulled up in ponytails, Bakura and Ryou still stood out like sore thumbs. Especially Ryou, who was trying to appear determined and ready, but looked like he was really doing all he could to hold himself together instead. A great thief Bakura may be, but Ryou had quite obviously never done this before in his long life.

"What a great plan, brother," Malik muttered sarcastically. Ryou's cheeks tinged a noticeable pink and he shyly uttered an apology. All of this managed to make him look adorably cute, but not any more ready to break into a public museum. Marik was seriously beginning to question the validity of this plan. As it was, he only gave Malik a punch and gestured for them all to continue forward. Bakura did not make eye contact with him once.

The four crept silently up to the gate that blocked the entrance to the museum. Bakura put a hand out and blocked the other three from moving forward anymore. He went on alone, up to the security booth that controlled the opening and closing of the gate. His gaze was directed upward for a few moments before looking back at the booth. With the angle Marik stood at, he was able to see a frown crinkle his face for a few seconds. Then it was gone, and Bakura was in the booth. The hour must have come at the perfect time, for there was no security guard in the booth. Marik kept a lookout in case he was to come back, but things looked pretty deserted to him. All the while Bakura rifled through papers up in the guard station, until he apparently found what he was looking for, and the gate opened.

Bakura hopped out of the small building, and with a mocking wave of his arm, led them all forward. At the entrance to the old building, Bakura stopped them again with a look upward. Above the glass doors were cameras, one stationed above each entryway. Bakura took a few tentative steps forward, before the same look crossed his face that had been there at the guard station.

"They're not active," Bakura said lowly. The two Ishtars looked at him, while the younger albino boy blinked his eyes in a show of confusion.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"They're not active," Bakura repeated, his eyes coming to rest on the three in front of him. "The camera at the guard tower wasn't either. All of them are off."

"And how do you know that?" Malik asked snidely, sounding unconvinced.

"I know because I was here earlier on in the day. It's good to get acquainted with your target, don't you think?" Bakura questioned with a sarcastic grin, showing a bit of teeth. "When I stopped by earlier, those lights were on. You could tell by the blinking red lights."

"But it's night time now," Marik pointed out, sensing a flaw in his argument. Bakura's eyes locked with his own, and for a brief passage of time he forgot what he wanted to say. Then he shook the feeling off, eager to continue. There wasn't any time for that. "How do you know those red lights you saw don't just turn off at night? Wouldn't you want a potential thief _not_ to know they were being filmed, that way they could be caught in the act?"

"In most instanced. Yes. But a place like this would rather deter potential criminals before they break in. That's why there are guards stationed out front. If someone managed to get in, even if they didn't actually steal anything, they could still cause damages to the pieces of art and history on the inside," Bakura explained patiently, arms crossed and with a confident grin in place. Like he knew exactly what he was talking about. Marik frowned. Sure, the explanation made sense, but he still thought it would still be much more beneficial and safe for the cameras to be hidden and not so obvious. He was about to argue this point further, but Malik noticed him gearing up for a debate and quickly cut in before any further discussion could be had.

"So why then, are the cameras off?" The question hung in the air, as ominous as the owner of the words himself. That, no one had an answer for.

"Well, only one way to find out," Bakura said.

"We keep going," Ryou added. And so they did. Bakura approached the glass doors without hesitation now that he knew the cameras were off. From his pocket he produced a long, cylindrical metal pick, and with it he went to work on the doors.

As he worked, he explained that unless done correctly, an alarm would sound and alert the nearest police station of their crime. A few seconds after finishing his little tale, the door came unlocked with a 'click', and Bakura held it open for the other three wit a jaunty grin in place. No doubt he'd only mentioned the alarm to further show off his own superb skills at breaking and entering. Marik might have been more impressed if he hadn't already known that it could have taken the vampire hundreds of years to hone that skill. Shone in the light of what immortality had to offer, Bakura's lock-picking skills just looked like a neat trick.

Marik had never really found museums to be interesting or fun, as his sister did. Isis had tried to get him a part-time job giving tours about a month after they'd moved to Egypt, saying that it would not only help him earn some extra money, but he might learn something too. Marik had declined almost immediately. Museums were dusty, old, and far too confined for his tastes, no matter how big the museum itself actually was. There were too many people and too many treasures jut waiting to be broken. Marik would have preferred working somewhere that didn't seem as claustrophobic. Even not, with the museum completely deserted but for his rag-tag group, it still gave him the creeps and seemed entirely too small, no matter how wide the waxed floor they trod on actually was. He could feel his heartbeat increasing, despite how calm he tried to keep himself. He wondered if Malik was feeling the same thing. A quick look at his brother betrayed nothing. His face could have been carved from the same stone as the statues they walked past were.

The Domino City Museum was divided into exhibits based on culture and continent. Right now the four of them were in the Ancient Greek exhibit. The Ancient Egypt one was located on the third floor, tucked away into a neat corner of the old brick building. Marik would leave the Sennen Items to be found in the exhibit. That way Gourou would have his precious artifacts back, and he and his siblings would be off the hook.

As Marik and his companions traveled through the corridors, they passed a number of decorations and ancient artwork, pots and vases and jewelry kept safe behind the glass containers and sections of rope. They looked easy enough to touch and even grab and take, but Marik knew that the second one of them got too close, alarms would start going off like crazy. As they walked, Ryou admired the artwork and exhibits while Malik led their group forward, and Bakura seemed to be having some kind of one man staring contest with the back of Malik's spiky head. Marik noticed this all briefly. His own eyes were constantly scanning the darkened hallways, trying to figure out if that was just another closed exhibit they were headed towards, or something else. This was all surprisingly easy, and he realized early on why that was. There were no guards. Instead of searching to avoid the guards, Marik was searching for a sign that they even existed. This was all just too easy.

They reached the third floor without incident, and from there the way to the Ancient Egypt part of the museum was even easier to get to. Marik kept his eyes open and ears alert the entire time, but he neither saw nor heard anything out of the ordinary. And that fact by itself was out of the ordinary.

When they reached the exhibit, Marik noticed the abnormal circumstanced he'd been looking for earlier. The area of the exhibit was being showered with a soft golden light. This by itself was not unusual, for the other exhibits had looked much the same. However, the lighting here was a bit brighter, as if in addition to the lighting the museum already provided, more was being added to it. Someone was there, and by the consistency of the lighting, it wasn't a group of guards. Marik hoped that the other three caught this and were prepared, because he wasn't stopping now. Not when he was so close to where he needed to be.

The four rounded the corner into the exhibit without a moment's hesitation, and what Marik saw there didn't surprise him at all. On a conscious level he was surprised, but deeper down he'd sort of expected not to be able to end this thing without another face off with Gourou.

The man didn't look any differently today than he had on Marik's first day meeting him. His cornflower blue eyes still shone as proudly as he stood in his expensive suit. A dark blue, almost black color today instead of the gray he'd worn before. His chestnut hair was combed neatly to the side, and he orderly moustache quivered excitedly. Accompanying the man this time were two burly bald men wearing black, with faces so bland they defied description but for their identical diamond hard eyes.

"Well well, it looks as it my little gamble had played off. Welcome," Gourou announced with flourish. Marik took a step forward, leaving Bakura and Ryou in the back.

"What are you doing here, Gourou?" Marik asked.

"I should ask you two the same thing. But I think we already know, don't we?" The man questioned, gaze falling squarely on the pack that Marik carried. Marik gripped the straps of the bag a little tighter. The tinkling of the Sennen Items clattering against one another sounded sweet in his ear.

"The director of this museum happens to be a good friend of mine. He was horrified to hear that the precious artifacts I so generously loaned to him for the opening of the new exhibit had been stolen. He was most agreeable when I suggested having myself and some of my bodyguards watch over the place in case the thief returned to give back his ill-gotten goods. And my plan appears to have paid off! Here are the thieves, right in front of me!" Gourou exclaimed. Well, there was no point in hiding the fact that he'd stolen them anymore, Marik thought. Gourou's little plot had proven that he obviously had.

"Looks like you caught me," Marik announced with a grin, breaking the tension if only a little. He slid the bag off his back and put it gently on the floor in front of him. Malik caught his eye and gave him a look that Marik responded to with a sly grin. His brother was telling him not to be an idiot. Which was as close to "be careful" as he was going to get from Malik.

"The way I see things," Marik said, pausing to open his bag and reveal all the gold on the inside, "there are things we both want from each other."

"I'm listening," Gourou said.

"In exchange for safely returning the Sennen Items to you, you forget about everything you know about Malik and I, and you stop pestering our sister. We let the whole thing drop quietly, with no police action. That's my final and only offer," Marik said, letting his grin drop now. He eyes Gourou suspiciously. The man in the suit was still smiling lazily. Marik wished that this thing would end quickly and without any further trouble, but he seriously doubted this. Not with the way Gourou was still looking at the four of them like that.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. If I don't keep something over your heads, what's to keep me from winding up like your little friend in this police report? You and your brother are very bad people, after all," Gourou responded with a little smile. The bodyguard to Gourou's left handed over a manila folder. The man in the suit opened the folder with an exaggerated flick of his wrist, and pulled out two sheets of paper Marik knew only too well. He actually felt the blood drain from his face when he saw them. Marik's own copy of the sheet of paper burned in the envelope he'd kept it in. Since getting the envelope, Marik had kept it with him at all times, not wanting it to leave his sight. Now it burned against his thigh and weighed heavily in his own pocket.

"Don't," He said. The command flew from his lips like it had been punched from him. Out of his peripherals he saw Bakura and Ryou both turn to him expectantly as they no doubt heard the change in his voice. Gourou also caught their reaction, and his slithery smile increased tenfold.

"So these friends don't know about you, do they? Wanted to hide the awful things you've done from them?" Gourou questioned sardonically. Marik's hand tightened on the fabric of the bag.

"Don't," He repeated.

"I think they deserve to know, don't you?" Gourou continued, either oblivious or uncaring to Marik's situation. "We wouldn't want them turning out the same as your other friend, would we?"

"Then say it already," Malik spoke up, directing everyone's gaze to him. He chuckled and licked his lips slowly, enjoying the attention he commanded. "If you're going to read what's on that little paper, then do it instead of dragging your feet through the mud. You won't hear _me_ complaining. I have nothing to hide. And maybe they should know about us." He directed his excited gaze to Bakura and Ryou, both of whom said nothing. If anything, they looked just as eager as Malik himself. Neither of them stuck up for Marik and said that they didn't need to hear. Marik gazed imploringly at Bakura, but the pale teen turned away. He felt helpless. Gourour was only a few feet in front of his group, without even a glass showcase to separate them, but Marik felt like no one would be there to help him even if he did rush the man to make him shut up.

"Then I will," Gourou accepted with a fat grin. Malik grinned his wolfish one right back, and Bakura and Ryou looked at the man with the papers, eager to hear what he would say next. Only Marik didn't want to listen to any of it. He already knew everything that Gourou could possibly say, and he was in no hurry to relieve any of it. He was already losing sleep over the entire thing without a retelling of it.

"It was easy to figure out who would be the most likely to have stolen from me. The Sennen Items were shipped to this museum from my own personal collection at the same time the pieces from the museum your sister worked at in Egypt were. I asked the director for a list with the names of everyone who helped move things. The name Isis Ishtar appeared on it, so I did some research about her, same as I did for every other name I was given. Your sister didn't strike me as suspicious until I learned about the two of you, and heard how you both had so generously helped your sister out with the moving.

"There was a lot to go through about the two of you," Gourou said with a chuckle, like he was keeping from them some important secret. "The two of you brothers are quite the team, aren't you? The leaders of one of the most infamous and vexing gangs in all of Egypt. And at such a young age too." Gourou sneered like their accomplishment was nothing, but Marik could feel the eyes of both vampire twins searching him, sizing him up in comparison to this new information they'd learned. Malik stood through it all proudly, pleased by what he'd done. Once Marik would have done the same thing. But he'd been changing little by little since coming to Domino, and now he only regarded his past antics with vague embarrassment, and an even more pronounced feeling of guilt.

"You both caused a lot of trouble for the authority in Egypt. Under your leadership, the Ghouls became one of the most feared gangs in Egypt. People were killed, the weapon and drug-trade flourished, and the crime rate rose. All of this was done by your words. But the strange thing was that there was only this one report out for your arrest. With all the terrible things the two of you had done, you'd only messed up once. The other arrests made to the Ghouls were people caught while carrying out your orders. The two of you preferred to work in the shadows and have others carry out whatever you wanted. It was that superior attitude of yours that got you both in trouble though." Here Gourou chose to pause in his narrative long enough to redirect his attention back to the pieces of paper in his hands. The police reports.

"These are issued out for the murder of Amun Ruhak. He was a member of the Ghouls, but had also been sharing all of your secrets with the leader of a rival gang after being blackmailed. And when the two of you found out about that, you weren't happy, were you? In fact, you were so angry that you decided to handle this man all by yourselves. You were the first one to stab him, and then your brother finished him off," Gourou explained gleefully, attention focused on Marik for the last part. "And then the very man who blackmailed Amun and watched you both murder him called the police and testified against you in court. The only reason you got off was because the witness was unreliable."

Marik felt an odd numb sensation in the center of his chest. His eyes gazed listlessly at the floor. He could already imagine the satisfied look Gourou wore, and knew his brother wouldn't look much different. Malik didn't care about anything that happened. Amun had deserved the fate he'd been dealt. Marik still agreed with this. He was a thief and a murderer just as Marik and his brother were. But if he had paid attention to what Amun had said about blackmail and listened, he could have stopped this all. There wouldn't have been all of this mess to deal with. Isis wouldn't have to worry about any of these things, and neither would he.

"So now everyone knows," Malik said, voice raising out strong in the silence. "My brother and I are murderers."

How did Bakura and Ryou take that information? Isis had been horrified when Rishid had brought her to the station where he and Malik had been kept. Marik could remember the scene clearly, even though it had taken place a year ago. Amun's blood had still been splattered all over their clothes. He'd killed vampires before, but their executions had always been clean, neat. Having never murdered a live, breathing human being before, Marik had greatly underestimated how messy the entire thing would be. Malik had been thrilled. He was a fan of gore and blood, and finally having had a chance to indulge without an overbearing Isis and Rishid present was like the opportunity of a lifetime for him. Marik always thought that it was all the blood that had made Isis cry like that. She'd broken out into hysterical sobbing, the likes of which Marik had only heard once before. It was her tears that had made him and his brother finally start to feel ashamed. The smug smirks melted away, and the joking and teasing they'd done prior to her arrival seemed a thing of the past. When Isis came, they stood awkwardly and silently, air tense, unsure of what to do.

Marik straightened his back. His gaze hardened to his usual stony glare, and he directed it at Gourou and his goons. Beside him, Malik noticed his change in demeanor and smiled that crazed look of his. His tongue slid out lazily past thin, pulled back lips. If Gourou noticed the change in the two Ishtars, he did not show it. Marik did not look at Bakura.

"Well, now that story time is over, how about you give an answer to my offer? If you want these back—" He paused here to kick the back with the Sennen Items, much to Gourou's darkened face— "then you'll need to forget everything you know about the two of us, and go back to wherever the hell you call home without making any calls to the police."

He didn't know what he expected Gourou's reaction to be, but it wasn't to continue looking as infuriatingly in charge as he did, despite the brief flare of anger he'd inspired earlier. The two muscle-bound bodyguards moved more than their employer did. They both shifted closer to Gourou and uncrossed their arms. Hands went behind backs, feet spread wider, and then they continued to stand. Marik's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he widened his own stance with a slight repositioning of his feet. If there was going to be a fight, then he was going to damn well be ready for it.

"Unfortunately Marik, Malik, I'm going to have to reject your offer. You see, I am a very bad man myself. And I don't like to leave things unfinished, or keep little pests running around under my feet. I prefer to squash them before they can lead to my undoing," Gourou said in a pleasant tone. He unclasped his hands. The motion caught the eyes of both Marik and Malik.

What they were not looking at were the bodyguards, who had also unclasped their hands. But both Bakura and Ryou were. They watched as Gourou's hired hands pulled pistols to the front of their faces. And then, with a quick nod to one another, both twins ran to an Ishtar and pushed them out of the way before a bullet could enter their brains.

All Marik knew was that in one minute he was standing tall, eyes on Gourou, and then in the next something had ran into him hard enough to forcibly expel the air from his lungs. He landed on his arm in a strange angle, and the pain that resulted from his fall made him yelp.

"You okay?" Bakura asked. His voice came from only a few inches away from Marik's ear, and sounded strangely worried. Marik finally took notice of his surroundings since he'd been so unceremoniously knocked to the ground, and saw quite quickly that the knocker had been Bakura. The other teen's body was half atop his own, face just as worried as his tone suggested. The raw concern showing on Bakura's face stunned Marik; he didn't think Bakura would ever reveal such a weakness toward another human being. Marik was fascinated by it, and didn't react at all when he felt spindly fingers begin to inspect his body until they traced over his injured arm and he winced.

"You're not shot," Bakura breathed out in relief. His eyes fluttered closed and the tension etched into his face broke. It was as fascinating and rare a scene as the one before it, but this time Marik's concentration was elsewhere. He was more concerned about what Bakura had just said. Just before being pushed, he recalled hearing a strange shooting noise. His first thought hadn't been pun, but now it seemed like the only thing it could have been. Then his heart sped up as he thought of another concern, and quickly searched for his brother. Malik was found some feet away from his location, where Ryou had apparently pushed him. The softer of the two white haired twins was helping him sit up. Malik looked uninjured, but just as confused as Marik felt.

"You missed." That was Gourou's voice, coming from the same spot he'd been occupying even before the shooting had occurred. He sounded disappointed. "Shoot them again. Both of the thieves and their little friends. Don't miss this time."

Marik barely had time to climb to his feet before he was being shot at again. Bakura swore and then was helping to get him away from the shooting once more. The two hid behind a glass enclosure protecting a rather large rock with hieroglyphics printed on both sides.

"Don't break anything!" Gourou screeched as a bullet whizzed past the two, only inches away from the glass covering the rock. A bodyguard made a noncommittal grunt and then fell silent, leaving the frantic hammering of Marik's heart against his ribcage as the only sound still audible in the empty museum. If Malik and Ryou were okay, he didn't hear them.

"Something needs to be done about this," Bakura said lowly.

"You think?" Marik snapped. Bakura stiffened at the remark, but he managed to hold his anger back. Marik felt guilty for snapping after witnessing this. Sarcasm and yelling wasn't going to get them anywhere, but he couldn't help it. Being in a gang like the Ghouls meant that he'd experienced getting shot at before, even if, as Gourou said, he'd mainly stayed behind in the shadows. But back then the gunfights had always come right when he'd expected them, and Malik had always been right next to him. Not stuck in some damn museum. He could be dead and Marik wouldn't even know.

"I could probably get their guns away from them," Bakura suggested. Marik shook his head.

"That would be foolish. We can't risk Malik finding out that you and your brother aren't exactly human," He argued.

"Well we need to think of something soon. Hiding out like this isn't going to hold him for long," Bakura said. They could both hear heavy footsteps approaching. They were running out of time.

The footsteps stopped at the same time that Marik heard a click of a trigger being pulled back, audible only because he was searching for it. He looked at Bakura and hoped the other understood what he was trying to say, then flung himself out from behind the glass case. Bakura had done the same and came out on the side of the bodyguard. He shot the spot where Bakura had been only a second ago, but the teen had already moved a few inches closer to the larger man. Bakura's leg shot out fast as a snake and kicked the man's legs out from under him, bringing his impressive weight straight to the floor. As the man landed on his back with a hefty bang, the sound of gunshots rang out strong from somewhere behind Marik. He almost looked to check, but Bakura was already standing and quickly confiscated the pistol. He brought it up straight to his cold brown eyes and pointed directly down at the hired hand.

"Don't." Bakura's eyes flicked over to Marik before turning back to the man in front of him. He growled irritably before raising the gun up high and slamming it against the side of the man's head. Marik watched as his eyes blinked slowly before closing, bald head lolling back against the ground. Bakura tossed the gun away with a scoff. It landed beside the man's still-moving chest. That was enough for Marik.

He spun around quickly as he remembered that he'd heard gunshots coming from this direction. For a moment Marik was scanning the area in front of him so quickly that he didn't see anything. His pulse quickened of its own accord. Marik closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. When he opened his eyes to look a second time, it was with much slower motions, even though he still desired to breeze through the entire place.

On the second go through he saw what he missed on the first in the darkened room. Some paces in front of him was the black-clad body of the second bodyguard. A dark stain was spreading out from underneath parts of his body. Marik made sure to skirt around it as he walked. Once closer, he caught sight of Malik and Ryou. He hadn't been able to see them before. From the angle he'd been standing at, the two were mostly concealed by another display case. Ryou appeared to be staring at the man with a curiously blank expression on his face, though his brow was furrowed, as if he were confused. Malik looked the exact opposite. Gun in hand, he had a huge grin on his face, full of palpable ecstasy. It was the same expression he wore whenever he killed a vampire, and it sent warning bells ringing all throughout Marik's head.

"Marik, you didn't—"

"No, I didn't. Knocked him on his head and then shot him for good measure. Didn't want to terrify the pansy here too much," Malik responded, still keeping his good cheer despite the still very alive bodyguard. Marik cast a glance at Ryou. He certainly didn't look terrified, but was that honestly before Malik had showed him some restrain? Something strange had happened between the two of them, and Marik was curious to know what. It wasn't like his brother to care about the reaction of another person to his violence. If anything, Malik usually loved to see the fear he could inspire by his strange behavior come to fruition in others. So why then, was he sparing Ryou?

"Don't we still have something to take care of, brother…?" Malik questioned smugly. With that pleased look on his face, he seemed entirely too happy with their current situation. But he was right, so Marik dropped his curiosity over what had happened between his brother and Ryou and went looking for where he'd seen Gourou last.

"Shit! He's gone!" Marik exclaimed. The spot Gourou had been standing at was deserted. He'd probably turned tail and ran for the exit the minute he saw his bodyguards losing.

"Well then we'd better go catch him," Bakura said from behind him. The gravelly sound of his voice startled Marik. He'd almost forgotten that Bakura was here with them with how much he'd been concentrating on Malik and Ryou, and now Gourou too.

"There's an elevator over here that he might have taken. We should probably split up to catch him. One group will head toward the elevator. The other should go to the exit and see if they can cut him off there," Bakura suggested with a slight nod in the direction of the elevator.

"Bakura and I will go to the elevator," Marik volunteered. Malik smiled fiendishly and hooked an arm around Ryou's waist, bringing the startled teen right up against his side. Ryou squeaked in a very undignified way at the unexpected action, while his face caught on fire. Marik did not miss the narrowing of Bakura's cold eyes at the oddly affectionate scene. Marik was possibly even more confused. He'd never seen Malik act this way before.

"Then it looks like me and the pansy will be racing to the exit," Malik announced. And he whisked away Ryou and took off, leaving Marik and Bakura standing alone in the Egyptian section of the museum. With a shrug, Bakura turned around and began walking toward the elevator. Marik jogged to catch up with him, and then the two picked up speed.

The doors to the elevator were closed tight, with no Gourou in sight. However, it seemed like Bakura was right in his suggestion, for the light to the door showed that it was in use. Gourou has escaped down.

"He's already on the elevator. We have to wait for Malik and Ryou to watch him," Marik said disappointedly. He wanted to catch Gourou himself, not only so he could talk to the man, but also because he was a bit worried. Malik still had the bodyguard's gun on him, and Gourou probably had something concealed on him as well. If the two were to meet and Gourou felt threatened enough, he might start shooting. And the last thing Marik felt they needed was to start a gunfight in the middle of the museum.

"Not if we don't want to," Bakura said mysteriously. He approached the closed metal doors slowly and placed a hand on both, with his fingertips digging into the niche between them. Marik saw his eyes begin to glow a deep red, and his lips curled upward. In the dark lighting of the museum his fingers almost seemed to elongate and turn pointed. Muscles bulged in his arms, visible even though the dark fabric of the shirt he wore as his fingers splayed and began to pull. A harsh whine sounded through the entire museum as Bakura started to actually pull the metal elevator doors apart, amplified by the emptiness of the entire place. Marik clamped his hands tight over his ears as he watched, fascinated by the display of raw strength occurring right in front of him. A normal man could never do something like this.

Bakura released the doors when the opening between them was wide enough to fit two people. His eyes faded back to dull brown and his form shrunk back to that of the slender Bakura he was used to seeing. The muscled creature from a few seconds earlier was already fading fast from his memory. Shaking his head, Marik forced his eyes to narrow as he told himself that he should really be angry with Bakura for what he'd just done rather than be impressed.

"Bakura!" He hissed quietly, turning to round on the man. "Why would you do that? We're trying to leave as little of an impression here as we can, and you decide it would be a good idea to rip the damn doors off? People are going to see that! _Malik_ might see it! If he sees, we're not going to be able to convince him that something like this just happened!" The elevator doors were trying to open, but because of the damage Bakura had done, could only widen about an inch before coming to a jarring stop, closing, and then repeating the process over again. The middle of the doors where Bakura had started yanking where crumpled and pulled back to the sides. Some wires poked out of torn edges and sparked, while above them a yellow maintenance light blinked on and off. Even an earthquake wouldn't have been able to cause damage that looked like this, much less some other naturally occurring disaster. People would be asking questions in the morning.

"You wanted to reach him," Bakura said.

"Yes, but—!" Marik's protesting was cut off by Bakura grabbing him around the waist in the same manner Malik had Ryou. His only warning of what the vampire was about to do was in the reddening of his eyes. Then Marik was pulled tight to a taut body and Bakura jumped straight down the hole he'd made. They'd already landed on the elevator before the yelp was out of Marik's mouth. Beneath his suddenly unsteady feet, the elevator shook, then came to an abrupt halt. A few seconds alter and it shuddered back to life and continued to slowly descend.

Bakura let Marik go and the blonde boy fell directly on his butt with the sudden loss of support. He climbed back to his feet and glared at his companion, but the look went by unnoticed. Bakura was already bending over with his hands running along the top of the elevator, looking for any hitches or raised edges. Marik could only see the faintest of shapes with the dim light in the corridor that shone from small lights they passed on the way down. With eyes straining to see, he could make out Bakura there with him in the dark, but he looked bulkier again. Another horrible metallic screech reverberated off the walls as Bakura tore pieces of unyielding metal off the elevator. Light began to show up at them, illuminating Bakura's fierce expression as he worked. A pang of lust shot down to Marik's groin, to his hot displeasure. Now was not the time for that!

"After you," Bakura said, mockingly sweet. He gestured down to the second hole he'd made in under a minute. Marik walked slowly to the hole, still a little worried by the idea that he was actually here on top of the elevator. He peered down into the innards of the metal container he stood on curiously, and saw a sweat-soaked Gourou staring wide-eyes right back at him. The man looked like he had just defecated himself, he was so afraid.

"Hurry up. This will be coming to a stop any second now," Bakura rushed. Marik nodded and lowered his lithe body down into the elevator. Bakura jumped down beside him.

Gourou had just about enough time to get a good look at the two of them before the elevator came to a stop. Up close he looked even more terrified. Bakura was making no effort to hide his less human featured. While he was not in full vamp mode, he was the closest Marik had ever seen him get to discarding his human appearance.

In their natural appearance, vampires were a bit taller than the average human and much stronger. They grew claws and large leathery wings. Their eyes reddened and their skin hardened to act as a defensive shield that protected against the types of blades a normal person would have access to. Bakura's fangs were quite clear for Gourou to see, as were his claws and red, red eyes. The slight muscle tone that composed Bakura's slender boy was now flexed to its limit, making him look that much stronger and imposing. Gourou was terrified by the display, and even Marik shuddered a bit at it, though the tremor that went over him wasn't an entirely unpleasant one. The same could not be said of Gourou, who went flying out of the elevator the moment it stopped and the door opened. Marik looked at Bakura disapprovingly, but the vampire, who now looked perfectly normal, just smiled cheekily and strolled out after the suit-wearing runaway.

Marik sprinted out of the elevator quickly after Gourou while Bakura swaggered behind. Marik rolled his eyes at the other's attitude and left him behind. He wasn't sure what to think about Bakura today. Earlier he'd been angry, and when this mission to the museum had started, conversation between the both of them was awkward and stilted. Now they were almost speaking like normal and bickering back and forth, but he still felt uncomfortable with it all. Bakura knew about him now. He wasn't acting any differently with that information yet, but he would. People didn't tend to dole out forgiveness for murderers.

He caught sight of movement in front of him and skidded around a corner to get there. Malik and Ryou had gone straight for the front entrance, and it was for that same entrance that Gourou headed to. When Marik arrived on the scene, Malik had the greedy man pinned to a wall by the collar of his expensive suit. He looked every bit as terrifying as Bakura himself had, and it was definitely having an effect on Gourou. A gun was lying on the floor by the man's dangling feet, and his eyes darted from it to Malik frequently.

"It looks like my brother had finally decided to show his face. Look what I caught," Malik crowed triumphantly. As Marik walked closer to the man and he was taken notice of, Gourou's minute trembling increased violently. Now his small blue eyes searched frantically around the room, trying to find Bakura. The fact that he didn't spot him anywhere seemed to worry him even more.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Malik growled, his disposition changing just like that. He slammed Gourou against the wall, bringing the man's attention violently to him. Ryou danced nervously from side to side and chewed his lip. His eyes were drawn directly to Malik. From experience, Marik knew that his brother was still in control and wouldn't hurt the man too much, but everything about Ryou, from his almost cowering stance to the fearful way he kept looking at Malik spoke levels about how comfortable he was with he entire situation.

"Wh-what do you want?" Gourou questioned shrilly. Malik was back to smiling and his good mood was infectious. For a moment Marik decided to let his worries slide and forget about the ugly business of his police record. He slipped back into his old persona easily enough, and transformed his expression into one that almost rivaled his brother's. It was too sweet hearing the man who had been tormenting him cry so shrilly. Gourou had said that he was a bad man, and maybe he was, but he had obviously never been in this position before.

"Aww, what's the matter? Where did all your bravado go?" Marik questioned. He raised a hand and let it fall down the man's smooth cheek as he smiled.

"He wants to know what we want, brother," Malik said.

"Hmm, what do we want?" Marik questioned with mock-confusion. Malik's fists were tightening in Gourou's collar, and at this point it was quite obvious to all in the room what he wanted.

"I'll give you anything if you let me go!" Gourou pleaded. Marik's eyes zoomed in on the man. That was what he wanted to hear.

"Then leave us alone," He said, becoming serious now. "Stop calling my sister and pestering her, and forget all about everything you know about Malik and I. What you will do is take your damn bag and leave this museum and this city without thinking about us ever again. You will not contact the police about this, and you will not mention it to anyone, ever."

"Or you'll be having a visit from us again." Bakura had finally arrived, coming up behind the four of them with a peculiar grin on his face. Everyone's reaction to his presence varied. Malik's palpable excitement seemed to die out, and Ryou finally got his nerves under control. Marik merely glanced in his direction, figuring that he would have arrived sooner or later, and Gourou very nearly peed himself. Bakura seemed amused by the entire thing.

"All right, all right, I'll leave you alone! Just don't let _him_ come anywhere near me!" Gourou screamed. Malik was very noticeable put off by this admission of fear of someone who was not he, and let Gourou go in his disappointment. By this point, the suit-wearing collector Gourou who had met the four teens in the museum looking nothing like the one that would be leaving it. That Gourou had commanded a level of respect even while being an asshole, and had stood strong and exuded power in front of them. This Gourou was a crawling, delirious mess on the floor at their feet. He was sweating profusely and still shaking and looking around, like he expected Malik to pull out the gun he had confiscated from his bodyguard and shoot him right there. From the time the bodyguards had fallen to this point now, he had shrunk in both stature and reputation. Now, when he finally realized that he was relatively safe in the group of murderers and monsters, he grabbed onto the bag with the Sennen Items like his life depended on them and scampered out the door without even grabbing his own gun that still lied forgotten on the floor. Marik kicked it off to the side of their group with a scoff.

"We should also leave. Now that Gourou's gone, it's not safe to be here anymore," He said, breaking the brief silence that had fallen over the four.

"What about those men? They're unconscious. Should we really just leave them here?" Ryou spoke up.

"Leave them. They should have known better than to go against us," Malik answered. Ryou opened his mouth to protest, but he seemed to realize that he was outmatched here. They left without helping the two bodyguards.

Getting out was just as easy as it had been getting in. There was no security guard to worry about, and all the alarms and cameras were still turned off. It was a bit disappointing actually. Marik had come here not to steal anything, but to return the goods from a pervious heist. He still wished that it had been a bit difficult to break in, despite his good intentions. The task hadn't even been fun, other than watching Gourou's resolve break. And even that hadn't been worth the trouble, not with what had been exposed. Marik hadn't wanted anyone to know about what he'd done. He knew that anyone who did would treat him differently, and look at him like some kind of monster. And he would deserve it. Because even if he hadn't gone to jail for it, or been sentenced to execution himself, he had helped to kill Amun in cold blood. And at the time, he hadn't even minded that he'd done so.

He couldn't help feeling guilty about his actions now. Malik didn't give a damn, but he had never expected that his brother would. Amun had been just as much of a bastard when he'd been living as he and Malik had in Egypt, but they hadn't died for it. Was it fair that he had? Marik had asked the question more times than he could count since he had killed the teen, but he'd barely thought of it upon his arrival to Japan. He'd actually thought that he had gotten over it, but then came Gourou digging up all those old skeletons. He needed something to concentrate on that wasn't Gourou or Amun. He wished again that breaking into the museum had been more of a challenge. That would have taken his mind off things. Now the guilt weighing him down made him think of nothing else but what he'd done. On top of that, their little group of four had split up into two groups of two: Bakura and Ryou, and Marik and Malik. He could just imagine the two twins behind him shooting dirty glances and whispering together about what he'd done.

"Calm down," Malik said suddenly from his side. Marik gave his brother a questioning look, but his twin was facing the empty street in front of them.

"You look even more hyped up than I am. Calm down and stop being so jittery. It's annoying," Malik explained rather shortly. Marik blinked in confusion. Perhaps his steps were a bit more jerky than normal, but he didn't think it was that noticeable in the dark.

"We'll be arriving at the turn to our road soon, and if either of our dear siblings have noticed our absence, they'll be quick to jump on you when they see how you're acting. I'd rather not sit and listen to you give everything away to our sister, so _calm_. _Down_." The growl at the end of those words made Marik think that his brother was a bit more annoyed than he was letting on. That was a little strange, but he didn't have time to contemplate it before he was speaking again.

"We did what we needed to do to get rid of that man, and now he's gone. He'd not going to come back with a gun and shoot you in the back, so stop acting like you think he is. And besides—" Here Malik paused to take something out of his pocket— "if he does show up again, he'll be sorry. He was given ample warning." Of course it was the gun one of Gourou's hired hands had been carrying, all shiny and polished. He was sure he remembered Bakura abandoning the one he'd taken right after hitting the bodyguard, but Malik had never done the same.

"Malik! You can't take that into the house with you! Isis will find it in a second!" He hissed lowly. Malik's eyes flashed as he finally turned to face his brother.

"Not if you don't give it away with the way you're acting!" He shot back.

"Well I can't help it! It's not like I expected the asshole to actually tell the story of what was on those police reports! I didn't want them to know about it!" Marik said defensively, gesturing widely to the two teens walking behind him.

"Why not? You're _friends_ with them, aren't you? Don't _friends_ tell each other their secrets?" Malik questioned snidely, obviously disgusted by the entire thing.

"Yes, but I didn't want them to know _that!_" Marik spat. "_That_ is not something we should be proud of! _That_ is something we _never_ should have done! We're murderers, Malik! Do you understand what that means? Do you even care that we killed a person in cold blood?" If Malik did understand the severity of the crime they'd committed, his face didn't show it. He was still scowling as indignantly as he was before.

"They're not even talking to us now. Some friends, right?" Marik finished dejectedly. This last sentence was what made Malik react, out of everything. His brother impulsively turned his spiky head behind him to look at the two teens that were trailing behind them. A second later, as if realizing his mistake, his eyes shot forward once again and didn't move an inch. Marik caught the entire thing. He almost glanced behind him as well, but caught himself just in time before he could complete the action. Once again he was reminded of the way his brother had acted in the museum. He was paying a strange amount of attention to either Ryou or Bakura, and he doubted it was Bakura.

"Hey Malik…" Marik started, but then came to an abrupt pause. He knew that Ryou had a thing for Malik, but was it even possible for Malik to like Ryou back? That was what he wanted to ask, but he had no idea how to even go about such a thing. Talking relationships or even affection with _his_ brother wasn't exactly the easiest thing he could think of doing. But now he had already opened his mouth, and Malik was looking at him with some measure of confusion on his face.

"Umm… about what happened in the museum…" He was stalling, very obviously so, but he had no idea what to say. Well, he knew what he _could_ say, but actually saying it was a completely different matter. He had no clue how Malik would react to a subject like that. Would he just laugh the entire thing off, or get pissed about it all?

He only noticed that he was spared from completing his question when Malik turned his inquisitive gaze away from Marik and directed it in another direction. He'd been so engrossed trying to decide how to phrase a question about the nature of his rather unstable little brother's sexuality that he completely missed the sound of approaching footsteps. As if summoned to join the party by thoughts alone, Ryou had approached. Any conversation that was being attempted between the two brothers ceased, and both looked at the newcomer with interest and an almost nervous undercurrent. Ryou was oblivious to it, but Marik thought him not as comfortable as he seemed.

"Umm, sorry to interrupt, but Bakura and I were going to head back to our apartment now," Ryou said. Marik raised an eyebrow. That was it? He thought Ryou would be coming to say something important. He was disappointed, but a large part of him was just as relieved.

"And Marik, if it's possible, I would really like it if you could come visit tomorrow. I know that we don't have school and you probably already have plans and are busy, but now that you don't have to worry about that man bothering your sister anymore, it would be good for you to take a break and relax. So if you can, please stop by tomorrow," Ryou requested. His tone was nice enough, but the moment Marik heard his words, it felt like his stomach turned to lead. Ryou wanted to talk about it. He hadn't said it outright, but Marik knew that was what the boy wanted to discuss. He had learned that he was a murderer, and now he wanted to talk about it. That had to be it. When you found that out about a person, you didn't just accept it.

"…All right," Marik said. "I'll be there at around one." He masked the nerves from entering his voice, but he didn't want to do this. He hadn't wanted _anyone_ to know about what he'd done, because he knew that they would hate him. He didn't want Bakura and Ryou to hate him. He didn't want to explain his actions to them. He didn't want to go. But they knew now. Didn't that mean that they deserved an explanation?

"Thank you," Ryou said with a smile. "We'll be leaving now. I'll see you tomorrow." He began walking back toward Bakura, who had watched the entire conversation take part from some ways away. About halfway to his brother, Ryou stopped and turned back to them.

"Goodbye, Malik," He called out. Marik was quick to catch his brother's reaction to the goodbye, but all he did was scowl. It was a little less angrier than he'd seen, but when all was said and done, it was still a scowl. He watched ad Ryou walked to his own brother, and then those two started talking to their own place he turned and continued down the street. Marik turned heavily and headed after him.

He wanted to put more thought into whatever could have happened to make Malik act so strangely toward Ryou, but he couldn't get his request out of his head long enough to really think about it. Gourou had already explained the hard part of how he'd helped kill Amun, so the task really shouldn't seem as daunting as it did, but that hardly helped to settle Marik's nerves. He really hoped that Isis was still asleep, because if she wasn't and asked where the two of them had been, there was not a doubt in Marik's mind that he would spill everything. Ryou had said that he should take a break and relax? Well that wasn't going to happen.

"Calm down already," Malik scowled. He sounded less irritable this time around.

"I'm trying," Marik snapped back. And he was. Right now, he didn't have anything he needed to worry about. He would need to worry a few hours later, when he went to go see Ryou. Right now, fulfilling his friend's request seemed even more difficult than standing in front of the judge for Amun's murder. Back then he hadn't cared what any of those people thought of him. Now, he cared a lot more than he wished he would.

Luckily for the two brothers, their sister was still asleep when they reached their house. Both snuck in with ease and climbed the stairs to their rooms without so much as a peep. Marik changed out of his black clothes and into the shirt and boxers he'd been in earlier on in the night, then climbed into bed. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but even though he was dead tired after being awake so late, he couldn't shake off his nerves. He wound up falling asleep just as the sun began to peek in through his window.

00000

When Marik showed up at the apartment to see Ryou, he didn't expect to wind up in a graveyard. He was almost positive that something important must have happened along the way, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what that might have been. Even with the small amount of sleep he'd received, he was in no shape to be up and going places. When he'd knocked on the door, Bakura and Ryou had both been ready to go. And so go they went. Marik could have sworn the three of them had walked silently to the graveyard, but that couldn't have been the case, because it made no sense. Why would they be in a graveyard?

The reason he was here Marik did not know, but he was beginning to reach the destination. The further back from the walkways a person went, the further back the dates on the gravestones went. And Ryou was leading them far back. He seemed to have a very certain destination in mind. Bakura also seemed to know where they were headed and was bored by it. Neither of them had yet to inform Marik, however. At any rate, it certainly wasn't the meeting he'd been expecting to have, though maybe that was for the best. He was too perplexed by the entire situation to be terrified.

They finally came to a stop in front of a grave marker that was almost two hundred years old, by the date carved into the stone surface. Because of how old and wind-worn it was, Marik couldn't read the exact date, but it was definitely in the eighteen hundreds. He couldn't even read the same that had once been on the stone. The only letter that was still legible was what looked like an "M."

Bakura took one look at the marker and a stony expression passed over his face. He muttered something under his breathe that Marik didn't quite catch, then moved off to the end of the row of graves that stood under the shade of a tree that bordered them. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes and managed to look so at peace that he seemed more like some lifelike statue instead of a real person, other than the scowl on his face. Ryou knelt down in front of the stone and placed a hand against it reverentially. His eyes closed and his lips began to move as he talked softly, also too quiet for Marik to hear. He himself stood awkwardly off to the side of the marker, feeling completely out of place here. He wanted to go stand by Bakura, but the eldest of the twins had yet to even cast a glance in his general direction, much less invite him to cozy up under the tree. And it was Ryou who had invited him here, so he figured he should stick with the softer of the two brothers.

He wasn't sure how much time had passes since he first arrived, but Ryou eventually finished whatever it was he'd been doing and stood up with a pop of his knees to announce that he was done. Marik looked at him almost wearily, sure that this was the moment when he would go off and start accusing Marik of being a heartless killer. But the accusations never came, and when Marik cracked open and eye he hadn't even realized he'd closed, Ryou wasn't looking at him at all, but still at the old gravestone with a wistful expression.

"The man who is buried here used to be my lover," Ryou said shortly, with a sad smile aimed Marik's way. The blonde boy was silent. He was stunned, because that was _not_ what he'd been expecting at all, but there wasn't anything he could think to say. Offering an apology sounded cheap. Ryou apparently did not mind his silence, for in a moment he was speaking again.

"He was human, of course. That's why he's here in the ground. I met him in a wood shop that sold all different types of beautiful, handcrafted furniture. He was an artist. I think I fell in love with him right away. He was so much more interesting than any other person I'd ever met. He was very serious and had an old spirit, so the two of us got along wonderfully. The day he told me he loved me was the happiest one in my life. I loved him greatly, my Yami," Ryou said softly. Marik continued to listen silently. He felt like he was intruding on Ryou's personal thoughts with the way the other teen was explaining this all. The way he spoke of it all, and with the tenderness in his expression, it was more like the Yami Ryou spoke of were still alive.

"Bakura didn't approve of our relationship. He was very adamant in his policy of keeping our interactions with humans to the bare minimum. He was right to be worried, of course, and he's always been a bit overprotective of me, but he didn't take the chance to get to know Yami as I did. Bakura was deathly afraid of any interaction we had with human beings back then. He told me that when Yami found out what I was, he wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore. He said that he might even try to kill me. Bakura wanted me to come with him and forget about Yami, but I wouldn't go. So he left without me. We've been apart before, but that was the first time we had ever parted for as long as we did." Ryou's gaze trailed to the stationary form of his brother, and Marik couldn't help but to do the same. He had wondered, of course, about what Bakura and Ryou's lives had been like in the past, and now he found himself wondering again. The Bakura he knew now didn't seem like the type to be afraid of anything, but six hundred years was a long time to live. He wondered if there had ever been any past lovers in Bakura's life. Ryou had told him otherwise, but if the two brothers had been separated for some years, something could have happened that he didn't know about.

"It was strange, being on my own." Marik focused his attention back on Ryou as he continued to speak instead of looking at the solitary form of his brother. "I think that if Bakura had stayed with me, I never would have told Yami about what I was. But I was by myself, and even though I was afraid of telling him the truth, I knew that I loved him and felt like he deserved to know. So I mustered up all of my courage and just told him.

"Yami was surprised, naturally, and it took him and entire week to finally get used to the idea of it. I didn't see him once during that entire week. It was the most horrid time of my entire life. I was so worried and nervous that Bakura had been right the entire time, and I had made the most awful decision of my entire life. I spent that week in tears. I was a complete wreck." Here Ryou paused in his monologue to give a short laugh, like the entire thing was a bit of an embarrassment to him now.

"But Bakura wasn't right. Yami eventually came to the room I'd been staying with Bakura in and told me that it didn't matter. He said that no matter what I was, he knew that I loved him, and he loved me. He said that he wanted to be with me forever." Ryou paused again as he gained a sort of far away look. Marik waited patiently for him to continue. Even though it had been years since Ryou's lover had lived, it was obvious that the teen still felt for him strongly. It was apparent in every word, and the way he bent down to softly touch the surface of the gravestone. Talking about it even now couldn't be an easy thing to do, but Ryou still wanted to do it. So Marik would let him take all the pauses he needed.

Eventually Ryou came back to himself with a sheepish smile. Marik just gave him one of his own and gestured for him to continue.

"I was very happy then. I eventually moved in with Yami and spent every day living together with him. He taught me how to carve things out of wood, and how to help run the shop. I never made any furniture of my own, but I helped Yami when I could, and made little wooden figurines to give to the children who stopped by. We were always very happy. Of course, because of what I am, we could never stay in one town for a very long time, or else people would start to get suspicious, but Yami never minded. He said that each move was like an adventure, and it helped spread his name to different areas that might normally have never heard of him. His furniture became very popular after some time.

"But we were only able to remain that way for a short time. Years continued to pass and we continued to pack everything up and move to places we normally wouldn't even think of traveling to. And Yami continued to get older. And I continued to stay the same," Ryou said with a half-conscious gesture to his youthful appearance.

"People began to think I was his son, and then his grandson. Yami told me that he didn't care, but I knew that he must. He just got older and older and I… well, I-I stayed exactly the same." The emotion was really coming out in Ryou's shaky voice now, almost sounding if he were about to break into tears.

"How would it feel," He asked solemnly, "to age and age and watch the person you love never do the same? To feel and know that your own body is rotting and falling apart at the seams, and the person in front of you is still the perfect picture of health? I guess I'll never know." A small chuckle here, and the smile that accompanied it was one of the most bitter things Marik had ever seen on Ryou's face. He couldn't help but to feel bad for him.

"Yami knew that he would grow old and I never would. He said that it wouldn't matter to him. But anyone would get bitter, even if they didn't want to. Yami did. He had bad arthritis and back problems from always bending over and working on his furniture. He hurt constantly, and there was nothing I could do to help him. There wasn't really any medicine for it that worked back then, other than some folk remedies. I didn't know what to do. I was always in a panic whenever he hurt, and that only made things worse between us.

"Eventually Bakura found where we were staying and remained with us to help out. I was very glad when he showed up. He was able to handle everything a lot better than I could, and was a big help, even though he never liked Yami. If he hadn't been there, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown. I-I had no clue what to do, or how to take care of him…" Ryou paused again and shook the hair from his eyes and the emotion from his voice.

"And then Yami died. And I buried him here, way back when Domino City was just a tiny little town," He finished with a smile. Marik felt alarm. The story had been going on for so long now that he hadn't expected it to end. He felt like he'd just been put on the spot.

"Well I… ahh umm, I didn't know that. …I'm sorry, I really don't know what to say here," Marik admitted, feeling sheepish.

"It's okay, I didn't expect you to. Rather, I've still got something to tell you. Marik, do you know why I asked you to come here and told you that story?" Ryou asked. Marik blanched at the question. It was just as unexpected as the story itself and he had no answer for either.

"Not… really," He admitted. Ryou didn't seem to mind his cluelessness, and continued on as if he'd been expecting this turn of events.

"Because you are human, Marik. You're the same as Yami. And Bakura and I aren't. We're vampires. We don't live the same way you do, we don't eat the same way you do, we don't age the same way you do, and we don't die in the same way you do. I don't know if your relationship with Bakura will continue for as long as mine did with Yami, but either way, you should know what to expect of it. Right now things are fun, and you don't have to worry about the future, but the years will pass by faster than you think. You will age, and you will die. And he won't. I just wanted to make sure that you realized this," Ryou explained. His cheerful face was serious now, and it was the expression that really brought the entire story home to Marik.

"I understand. Thanks, Ryou," He said.

"You're welcome, Marik. Now, could I have a few moments alone?" Ryou asked. Marik cracked a grin. There were easier ways to suggest he go see Bakura, but he let it slide.

"Of course," He said, and gracefully walked away from the gravestone. Within seconds of his departure, Ryou was back to kneeling beside the grave with his eyes closed. Marik watched him for a quick minute, feeling sympathy for the boy and the pain he was obviously still feeling, before redirecting his attention to his friend's somber brother. His heartbeat sped up a bit and he began to feel the nerves he'd been feeling since the moment he woke up this morning. They had simmered down while listening to Ryou's take, but now it felt like the butterflies were suicide bombing his innards.

He walked up to Bakura awkwardly and slowly, feeling for all the world that this was playing out just like the moment their relationship had started, though possibly even worse off than that had Bakura didn't look at him when he neared the tree, and so Marik stood and wondered what to do next.

"I hadn't wanted Ryou to tell you that," Bakura announced.

"Huh?" Marik questioned intelligibly.

"I didn't want him telling you about Yami. I thought it would scare you away. If you knew how his relationship had ended, I mean," Bakura said. His eyes had opened somewhere near the beginning of his rambling, and now were looking pointedly at the ground as he noticed that he indeed was rambling. The realization caused a frown to cross his face, and Marik ignored his nerves long enough to find it cute.

"What I'm trying to say is that we haven even _been_ like this for a long time, and if Ryou told you, I thought you would… You already seemed further, and I thought that… Damn it!" If Bakura struggling before had been cute, now it was downright adorable.

"I just didn't want Ryou telling you. That's all. But he thought you deserved to know," Bakura finished. That particular turn of phrase made Marik's blood run cold, and he was reminded unpleasantly of the matter that had been on his mind since Gourou revealed it to everyone at the museum. How could Bakura stand there and try to speak of the emotions he felt for someone like him? Was that why he couldn't? Because he knew now that Marik was a murderer?

"What's wrong?" Bakura questioned, sensing Marik's sudden despondent attitude. There was concern in his voice, and to hear it directed towards him made Marik feel all the guiltier.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked solemnly. "Why are either of you telling me this? I killed someone! I'm a murderer, Bakura! He begged me to let him go and said that he was blackmailed, but I didn't care—I killed him anyways! The only reason I wasn't sentenced to death myself is because the gang leader who saw me do it was considered unreliable. You should be telling me that you hate me."

"Marik, what are you…? Shit, Ryou didn't tell you, did he? That bastard was supposed to be sure to mention it to you," Bakura said angrily. Marik raised his head to look at the agitated teen, not sure what this meant. He didn't want to hope for everything to be all right, but he couldn't help hoping for something.

"Marik, look, I don't care what you did in the past. None of that really matters to me. It doesn't to Ryou either. Neither of us are going to think differently of you just because of something you did in the past."

"Bakura, I _killed_ someone!" Marik protested. "That's not something you can just ignore! I _killed_ a man! He _begged_ me not do, but I did it anyways! I killed him! I took my knife and stabbed him, and-and his blood got all over me and I watching him die, and I didn't-I didn't even care! I _laughed_! I fucking _laughed_ with Malik about how pathetic he was! I took someone's life, and it didn't even faze me! You can't just say that doesn't matter! You can't! You can't, you can't, you—!"

"Marik!" Bakura grabbed him harshly and shook him, forcing him to stop talking. There was a fury in Bakura's eyes and for a second Marik found himself too immersed in them to continue his tirade of self hate.

"Do you think I've never killed someone before? Do you think I've never felt the same way as you? If someone were trying to hurt Ryou, I'd kill them without feeling any remorse! I have! And I don't care! I've killed many more people than you have, Marik, and if I bothered to remember all of them and feel sorry for what I'd done, I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed in the morning, I'd be so consumed with loathing. I can because I don't care about them, and I sure as hell don't give a damn about anyone you've killed. So shut the hell up already, and stop talking like that!"

And then Bakura's arms were wrapped tightly around Marik's startled frame. All of his anger and fury disappeared all at once as he buried his face against the crook of Marik's neck. His white hair covered him from view, so Marik couldn't even begin to know what was going on in his head. All he could do was place his own arms around Bakura, and hold him tightly.

"I don't want to turn out like Ryou," Bakura mumbled into the nape of his neck. "I don't want to fall for some human and watch them die. I don't want to go through that. It ruined Ryou. Yami died over a hundred and fifty years ago, and Ryou's still torn up about it. It was worse back then, when he first died. I had to be the one to keep Ryou going. _ I_ had to do that. I don't want to turn out the same way he did." Marik held on tighter to the warm body against him. He felt a huge amount of relief that what he had done back as the leader of the Ghouls didn't matter, but he couldn't feel happy about it when Bakura was like this. He wanted to say something to comfort the other teen, but it was a distinct possibility that Bakura _could_ end up like his brother. Now that Ryou had told him the story of his own ill-fated love life, a burden that Marik hadn't even been aware existed was looming over him like a threatening storm cloud.

"And I don't want you to turn out like Yami. I don't want you to hate me. Ryou won't tell you that he did, but I saw it. He always loved Ryou, but I saw the way he looked at him. Yami resented him with all the strength he had in that worn out body of his. He hated waking up every day and being taken care of by Ryou. He hated being reminded that he was dying. I don't want that," Bakura said.

"It wont be that way," Marik said. He had no idea why he said the words, but the moment he did he knew it was the truth. "I'll never hate you. I might come to resent you, but I won't ever hate you, Bakura." He placed a hand on Bakura's head and soothed his wild hair down. Bakura relaxed into his touch without a fight, and the tension left his body. He only let himself remain that way for a minute at most, but when he raised his head to make eye contact with Marik, he allowed a hand to rest against his cheek.

"And what are you, some kind of fucking psychic?" Bakura questioned with an eye roll, not quite succeeding in ruining the tenderness of the moment. His eyes looked a bit red, but Marik thought it was best to not comment on that. Instead, he chuckled softly.

"No, that would be my sister. She always knows when I'm doing something wrong," He said. Bakura scoffed and shook his head.

"Only because you make it too easy then," He remarked offhandedly. He tried pulling away from Marik's embrace, but the Egyptian wasn't ready to let him go just yet.

"I'm serious though," Marik said, and then leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Bakura's supple lips. He caught the albino by surprise, and was delighted to see a faint blush appear on his cheeks. He tried to stifle a chuckle, but didn't quite succeed, and when Bakura pulled away now, his blush was much more apparent.

"Stop acting like such a fruit and sit down already. Ryou will probably be here for a while," Bakura said with a cough. He sat down against the trunk of the tree and when Marik joined him, still laughing, he made sure not to look at him. Some yards in front of them, Ryou continued to kneel at the base of Yami's tombstone.

* * *

Okay! Some things to say that will probably make this a long AN, but then you should be used to that by now.

First off, I REALLY liked this chapter. A lot of it was very family-based, and it you haven't clued into it by now, that's kind of a big thing in this. Hence the title of the entire fic. I called it Blood Is Thicker (blood is thicker than water, a saying used to describe family ties), instead of Thicker Than Blood because that didn't go as well. Also, with it being called Blood Is Thicker, I can shorten it to B.I.T. Which also works with the entire vampire aspect XD But so lots of things dealing with family, with both the dynamics between the Ishtar siblings, Marik and Malik, and then Bakura and Ryou. There's also the scene from Malik's POV that follow the family thing, although Malik's got a bit of an obsession with his brother, because for some reason I can't stop sticking Bronzeshipping into this. It's really creepy though and I dig it X3 Another thing I figured I ought to mention, if no one has caught it yet, but Malik has a thing with names. Most of the time, he only refers to Marik as his brother, and never uses Isis or Rishid's names. The only time he actually calls Marik by his name is when he's feeling a lot of strong emotions. Just thought I should point this out, and the family thing, since it's like the central theme of this ficcy. Yay family.

So Yami. I did not want him to be Ryou's past lover. Because that's strange. I think the two only talk to each to each other is like, the first season where Bakura sticks them all into their favorite cards and Ryou comes out as Change of Heart. And that's it. Well, I guess they kind of interact in season 0 too, but that's you know, the banned season, so that doesn't count. I had wanted Ryou's lover to be Yuugi, because they're so similar and it's cute to me. But then I totally fogot about that and stuck Yuugi briefly in a chapter where he was kind of sort of getting picked on. Since it's totally not important at all, I could have changed it so that Yami was the one in the previous chapters, but then it wouldn't have fit if he was getting picked on. So I was screwed, and had to use Yami. He kind of fits, so it's not that big of a deal, but still... It irks me.

Important stuff now! So I'm thinking there will be three more chapters of this. THAT'S RIGHT, THREE MORE CHAPTERS. Maybe an omake one that I've been planning for a while, but can't really write yet until the end. But yup, with the way I've got things planned, three more chapters, and then it's the end. Depending on how I stretch these chapters or if I randomly throw in some unimportant events, it might be four, but still, we're getting there. Be prepared.

And that's it then! So please remember to review, and since you're here, why don't you go check out my other fanfic, _A Typical Fridays_? It IS sort of a parody of the song "Friday", but all I do is take a lyric, and come up with a story that gets inspiration from it. You might not think that you'd like it, but I promise, you will! It's got pretty much everything, humor, angst, seriousness, fluff, dark, whatever! And I update every Friday, of course ;D So check it out! Thanks!


	14. His Dirty Past pt 2

Ye gods long chapter. For the past two days I've been typing this monster up, and I am done with it. That being said, I'm sure there is a plethora of spelling mistakes that are not getting fixed until tomorrow morning when I can bear to look at this again. Because right now, I don't give a damn.

But hey, considering that I was AWOL for the month of November, pretty fast update. I actually wrote the majority of this chapter within the past two weeks, despite it being finals week. Hopefully the next chapter will be up quickly as well! I don't think it'll be a long one, but can't say for sure just yet. But anyways, here is chapter fourteen! Things are getting down to the nitty-gritty!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Please do not get it into your head that I do.

* * *

"So tell me something interesting," Marik said, breaking the silence. He'd been sitting under the cover of the large tree for about twenty minutes with Bakura now, and neither of them had really spoken since Bakura's outburst of emotion earlier. Which Marik was more than okay with. While a completely different crop of problems had settled onto his shoulders with the advent of Ryou's story, it was nice to just sit here and relax against Bakura's side without feeling the guilt of what he'd done in the past also weight down on him. Bakura had been enjoying the silence as well, and now he gave Marik what was clearly an irritated look for interrupting the peaceful moment.

"You want me to tell you what?" Bakura questioned dryly.

"Something interesting! I learned something I didn't know about Ryou today, and the two of you learned something about me last night, so tell me something I don't know about you," Marik explained.

"Actually, the person who told us about you was Gourou," Bakura pointed out. "You didn't want to tell us anything at all."

"Well you still learned about it either way," Marik mumbled. "Tell me how you got turned into a vampire. I'm sure it's an interesting story." Bakura's face darkened at that expression, and Marik realized a little too late that might have been a bad choice. The day you died wasn't exactly a joyous occasion.

"There's nothing really to say about it. I met a girl, thought I was in love with her, and then she turned me into this—" A pause in the narrative to make a disgusted gesture to the form Bakura wore— "She said that I was cute and that she'd been needing a little slave to keep around and do her bidding. She was quite a few years older than me, and a lot stronger too. The only reason I was able to escape from her was because I got lucky and she didn't really try to stop me. Nothing more to explain than that," Bakura finished shortly.

"Well why don't you tell me about your life when you were still living then? What were you and Ryou like as children?" Marik questioned, hoping that there couldn't really be anything bad about this topic. He was proven wrong once again. Bakura stiffened at the mention of his childhood. In a second he looked normal again, but Marik had already seen it.

"You ask some really terrible questions, you know?" Bakura asked.

"You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to," Marik said quickly.

"I might as well," Bakura sighed. "Ryou takes forever on the few occasions we come here, so we'll have enough time. And at any rate, there's not much else to do." He leaned further against the base of the tree and closed his eyes. Marik scooted a bit closer and waited patiently for him to begin. His leg was tapping up and down on the springy turf, and though he tried to quell his excitement, Marik couldn't get the movement to stop. He was together with Bakura in this relationship, but there was surprisingly little he actually knew about him, or even Ryou for that matter. He couldn't wait to actually hear some of that mystery divulged now. So he waited, and soon Bakura began his story.

00000

When Bakura was a little boy he had an understanding that most little boys did not. He understood that his family hated him.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with his family. He'd been down into a tumultuous period of time with a thousand issues that needed to be addressed in the world around him, but his mother and father had done their best to keep him from all that. While other families grew angry at one another and lost money due to ever increasing prices on wares, Bakura's own parents never missed an opportunity to show affection to one another. They were not nobility, but they were not peasants. They were what could have been classified as middle-class, if the term had been in use back then.

His father was an artisan and his mother helped to manage the store and take care of the children. While Bakura did not have everything he wanted, he had enough. His parents loved each other and were able to make means meet while many were not. He had a twin brother names Ryou, younger than him by only three minutes, who would always be a constant companion. There was not any reason for him to be dissatisfied with his family with those blessings in mind, but he was, because Bakura wanted more. He wanted his parents to love him, and they did not.

Both his father and mother had desired to have a large family, but as years went by and the century never got any better, they decided it would be cruel to bring up another child where the future was already uncertain, and so there was only Bakura and Ryou. Though his parents had wanted a large family, they only loved one of their sons. Bakura had not realized this fact for a very long time, but when the idea had first entered his subconscious at the age of thirteen, he had not been able to get rid of it. His parents hated him. They did not love him, but they loved Ryou. Ryou was loved while he was not.

Ryou had always been better at getting attention than Bakura himself. Though the two boys were twins, it was hard for them to be any more different. Even while they'd been babies, his parents told Ryou while he'd stood by and listened about how completely different they had been. Ryou had been calm and gentle and spent all his time eating or sleeping, whereas Bakura had been a fussy eater and cried during all hours of the night. Then they grew to be older, Ryou had always had a great number of friends that he was always laughing and playing with, while Bakura preferred to be alone and find insects to kill or frogs to catch. If any children tried to play with him he would allow them, but they usually always left soon for the company of his brother, claiming that he was too mean.

His parents had always preferred the gentle Ryou to the strangeness of their eldest son, who had seemed a little too calm when the boy's beloved pet dog died of old age. Though Bakura had not smiled at the animal's death, his dry eyes and stony stare were a little too strange in comparison to Ryou's loud sobbing. They just did not understand the boy. That was not to say that they did not _try_, but they were never able to.

"Bakura, aren't you sad that your dog has died?" his father asked, bending down close to the strangely quiet six year old.

"No," Bakura answered, not once taking his brown eyes off the curiously still body of the animal. For he was not. The dog had always favored Ryou more than he, though it was supposed to belong to the both of them. But he did not think of this. All he thought of was how _different_ the death of a dog was from that of a bug, or even a bullfrog. His father stood, made a helpless gesture to his mother, and then moved back to Ryou's empty side, for his younger son was still crying, and this was a reaction he could handle.

Because they could not understand their oldest son, his parents naturally spent more time with Ryou. His mother would take him with her when they went shopping, and his father had Ryou work with him inside the shop more often, although Bakura was better at both making and selling their merchandise. His father said that because Ryou was not as good as Bakura, he would need more time to practice and learn. At his young age of ten, Bakura was okay with this, because it gave him more time to play by himself.

He did not notice that anything was wrong with this behavior until one day while he was sitting with Ryou and pretending to listen to his brother talk about the wonderful time he had spent with their father. The two had left early in the morning six days ago to take a trip to the city to replenish the supplies that were needed for the shop. His father took this trip to the city once every two months to replenish, and this was the first time that either of them had been allowed to go. Bakura had given the opportunity to take the trip as well, but he had declined because Ryou was going. He did not hate his brother, but his twin was very different than him, and most of the time he thought Ryou was just a big baby. He did not want to sit with him for the twelve-day carriage ride going to and coming back required.

He remembered that at some point during the long account he had actually started to listen to Ryou and pay attention to all the fun he'd had, and he was struck by a sudden thought. As Ryou recalled the way their father had smiled and laughed, Bakura tried to think of a time that his father had seemed so warm and lively with him. There were times of course, but these times only occurred when Ryou was also around. He could not think of a single moment when it had only been him and his father. Then he tried the same thing with his mother, and found that he ran into a similar problem with her. The only times he could think of his parents being so happy was when Ryou was there as well.

"Do you love me?" he asked his parents that same day. The question startled the both of them, and they hesitated before answering it. Not because they did not love their eldest son, but because they'd never known how to feel about him. He was very different from his brother. They told Ryou all the time that they loved him, and he always said it back. They had not done so to their oldest son because he was so different, and he had never seemed to care before.

"Of course we do," they answered, but the damage had been done. Bakura heard the hesitation, and his first thought was to assume that they were lying. They did not love him. They hated him. The one they loved was Ryou.

He did not hate his parents for not loving him. It is a difficult thing to truly hare one's parents, and Bakura was not able to do this. But he did make himself hate, because he thought that it would only be fair that if he were hated, he would hate as well. He could not hate his parents, but he could hate, and so his hate kept building up inside of him. He acted out more than usual and spent even less time with his parents, which confused them even more. He started to get into fights with the other boys and his temper, which had always been bad, become explosive. He yelled at anyone that came near him and he hate, hated so much that it consumed him and became self-destructive. And then he found a way to release all that bottled up hatred, because he ad found the source of it all. He pinned all of his hatred on Ryou, because the way he saw it, it was all Ryou's fault that their parents did not love him. Ryou was stealing all of their love for himself.

His parents, who had never known how to approach him before, had even less of an idea how to do so now, and so they became more and more distant. They did not know what had caused the change in their oldest son, but they became worried that something similar would happen to their youngest, so they tried their hardest to keep Ryou from Bakura. All this served to do was make Bakura even angrier, for he not believed that his brother was trying to keep their parents away from him. He grew angrier and angrier as each day his seclusion became more and more pronounced. He hated Ryou more and more.

Ryou was the reason behind everything. Ryou was the one who was loved by everyone. Ryou was the one who was always happy and smiling. Ryou was the problem. If Ryou were not here, then the only son would be him. And then his parents would have to love him. It was Ryou's fault that they did not.

He asked Ryou to come with him down to the river. Ryou was innocent and naïve. Ryou did not know how strongly his brother felt against him. While their parents were weary of the strange request, all Ryou felt was happiness. He loved his brother, and it hurt a bit that they were even further apart now then they had been in the past. Ryou saw the offer as a way for them to fix whatever had come between them.

Bakura knew that Ryou could not swim because he could not swim. So when he pushed the brother he was supposed to protect into the rushing waters, he watched as Ryou's brown eyes grew as wide as their mother's fancy dinner plates, and then he was thrashing in the water, trying to keep his sodden head above the current. Bakura watched the scene with deadened eyes and a blank face. He heard his brother call out to him ad raise a pale outstretched hand, but Bakura only watched. He did not notice that his parents had followed their sons until his father ran past him, discarding his shirt as he jumped into the water, and his mother remained on the bank screeching.

His paralysis had been broken the moment his father jumped into the river, and his eyes grew large and his lips quivered. He did not move from his spot on the bank until his father climbed out of the river dripping wet, carrying Ryou with him, who was clinging tight to his neck and shaking.

Their father was a peaceful man who had never before yelled at the two of them, not even when Bakura had acted up. Bakura had not thought that he could yell. But now he did, and he yelled so loudly and sounded so angry and threatening that Bakura began to shake as badly as Ryou, and then he turned and ran, because he had not thought that his attempt to kill his brother would make his parents hate him even more, but they did, even as Ryou cried that it was just an accident, they did not believe him and hated him.

He went to the city because he knew that he was no longer accepted at his own home. His parents hated him, more than they ever had before. They had chosen Ryou. Now even Ryou would hate him. No one wanted him. The parents of the children he knew all looked at him and pointed and hid their own children when he passed. He would go to the city. He would go to the city and find a job and find someone who would not hate him. That was Bakura's plan.

He walked to the city because he did not have a carriage to drive. He was lucky enough to find a man willing to take him there on his second day of walking. When they reached the city he left the man and began to search for a job. He tried everywhere he could think of, and then tried to get an apprenticeship, but no one was willing to take him on. After trying for a month the only thing he could do was to go back.

He did not want to go back, but he had no choice. He had run out of the meager coins in his possession that had kept him living for a month. He had nothing. He could no longer afford to stay in a room, and he had no food. If he wanted to survive (and he did, for he clung to life greedily), then he would have to go back to his home.

He thought that maybe if he went back now, his parents would no longer hate him. He knew that they would never love him, but now that he knew that it was like to not be with them at all, he thought that maybe he would go back to the way things were before. He was wrong. He would another carriage to give him a ride, but it did not take him directly to his own town. It took him to one about a day's worth of walking away, and so for that last day Bakura walked back to his home. People from his town saw him as he walked back, and so by the time he reached his house, his parents had already known he was coming.

They did not accept him back. His parents, who had always been kind even when it seemed like they weren't, both left the big house Bakura had gown up in together when he came, fooling him into thinking that they were here to greet him. They were not. They both stopped several paces in front of him and stood, forcing him to understand that what they were really doing was blocking the door from him.

His mother cried. She cried and swooned and made Bakura feel awful, and his father shouted and yelled and made him feel hated. They did not want him back. They had not hated him before, but they did now. A month had not been long enough to make them forget what he had tried to do. They thought about how they had never understood their eldest son, how he had always seemed so strange to them and so unlike their second. They remembered how cold their second son had looked, and how he had shaken and trembled, and then they remembered how angry and bewildered their first had appeared. It was not any fault of theirs, but they found that they could not forgive their oldest.

He ran away. When he could no longer deal with the yelling he ran away from it. But not before the white head of hair of his brother peeped out the window and saw that he'd returned.

He did not know where he was running to, but he knew that he must run, and so he ran. He came to a stop at the bank of the very river that he had pushed Ryou into. Bakura stopped along the edge of it and looked at his broken reflection in the torrential waters.

"Bakura?"

He spun around. It was Ryou. Not his parents who had come running as they'd run for Ryou, but the younger brother himself. He stayed back and danced shyly from toe to toe. He did not know what to say, or how to act. Ryou had always loved his older brother, but now that he had not seen him for a month he seemed so different.

"What the hell do you want, you stupid brat?" Bakura demanded. He was angry, he was so angry, he was always angry now, and it flooded him. His parents hated him. They had run for Ryou, but would not do the same for him. Now it was Ryou here in front of him—not his caring mother or his gentle father, but Ryou, Ryou, who had stolen them both away from him, and was now here to laugh. Oh, how he hated Ryou. How he _hated_ Ryou!

"What? Don't just stand there like an idiot!" he screamed. The wind picked up around him and stole his words away, but he knew that his brother had still heard him for the half step he took and the rear in his wide brown eyes. He wanted Ryou to speak. He wanted Ryou to narrow those big orbs in an imitation of himself and proclaim out loud what Bakura had always known: that he was stealing their parent's love all for himself.

"P-please don't leave again. I…I don't want you to go…"

Ryou did open his mouth and he did speak, but it wasn't at all what Bakura had thought he would hear. He was startled and lonely all at once, because he _wanted_ someone to say those words, he wanted so badly, but no one ever had. But Ryou was lying! He had to be!

"Wh-what are you talking about? Why would you care anyway? You'd be happy if I was gone! So would mom and dad and everybody else! And you know what? It'd be happy too! I don't need any of you!"

He screamed and yelled because he wanted to believe that this was true. Bakura stormed angrily up to Ryou and yanked him by his arm before he could back away. He wanted to hit him and force him to admit the truth and stop saying the things he was saying, stop lying, stop acting like he cared because he didn't, he didn't at all!

"No! Don't leave! Please! I-I love you! You're my brother!" Ryou said. His eyes were wide and teary and he looked afraid. The words as well as the sight of his brother like this made Bakura lower the hand he hadn't even realized he'd raised. Ryou was only a few minutes younger than he, but he seemed so much more so right now.

"Wh-what are you saying? Stop saying that!" Bakura said, pleading with his brother. His hands trembled violently and he released Ryou's arm and took a step back. Ryou followed him.

"No! I love you brother, and I don't care what mom and dad say! I don't care if they say you're bad! I love you!" Ryou proclaimed loudly.

"Ryou…"

Ryou took a cautious step forward. His eyes were warm and inviting like their mother's, but Bakura did not want to go to them. He had tried to kill his brother. Oh god, he had tried to kill his brother! He hated Ryou and he loved him and he needed for Ryou to need him, but at the moment he was so confused and unsure that he did not know what he felt more, and so he wanted to run away. But the river was behind him, the same river he had pushed Ryou into, and there was nowhere else to run to. Ryou kept moving forward. Before he knew it, he was in his brother's arms.

"Please don't leave again, Bakura. I don't want you to go. I missed you," he said.

"Ryou…" Bakura croaked out. It seemed to be the only thing he could say at the moment.

His parents did not love him. Once the might have, but they did not anymore, and it was his own fault. No one should love him. He had been horrible. But somehow, Ryou forgave him. Ryou needed him. Ryou loved him.

"I'll… stay," Bakura said simply. Ryou held him closer and rested his head on Bakura's. And Bakura's own arms moved up to Ryou's and were placed around him.

His parents did not accept him back into their home just because Ryou had forgiven him. Ryou had chosen to forgive and forget, but they did not. They were afraid that their oldest son would once again do something awful, and they did not want their youngest in danger once more. Ryou fought tooth and nail against them, and this surprised Bakura more than anything. Things were awkward between him and Ryou. For years they had fought or ignored the other's existence, and now it was hard for them to remember that they were brothers and that they needed one another. Bakura frequently found himself forgetting this and slipping once again into his hatred of Ryou. But here was his brother, who had always been timid and quiet, fighting so ferociously for his sake.

Of course their parents did not give in. The damage had been done, and they could not be convinced that the same thing would not happen again. Bakura was not allowed back in the house. But even so, with Ryou's pleading, he was persuaded to remain in town. He found a small house that he was allowed to stay in so long as he helped the elderly man who owned it. He was even paid for this work.

He remained there for a year, and then he and Ryou both moved permanently to the city, where they both found work. Their parents did not contact them. They still loved Ryou dearly, but when he left home to go live with his older brother they did not know what to do. So they did nothing. And while Ryou missed them, there was really nothing he could do either to change what they had decided, and so he learned to just live with the fact. Everything was fine for the two, until Bakura met the woman who would turn him into a creature.

He met her when he was walking back to the tiny living space he shared with Ryou after having gotten off work. She was standing still and alone on the path that was usually bare but for him, as if she'd been waiting for him to arrive. He did not know her name. All he knew was that she was beautiful and surreal, and when she took a step toward him and flung her arms about him and kissed him, he thought he was dreaming.

Somewhere in the midst of their passion she bit him.

He did not remember much of it because there was so much pain. For the twenty-four hours it took for the change from human to vampire to occur, Bakura's existence was built on nothing more than the pain he felt. As his human body died and his organs gave up and failed, the pain kept him going, kept him alive. It ignited dead nerve endings and set them aflame. It made the sack of his flesh jerk and toss and shake as he was pumped full of gasoline and doused in a rain of flame and forced to return to a shambling semblance of life.

When he woke up, he was in a house he did not recognize, and the woman who had bitten him was beside him. But of course now he knew that she was no woman.

She said that she wanted him to be her slave. He said that he would not be. Her eyes lit up and her fangs grew large and fearsome wings grew from her back and she bit him again. He passed out.

When Bakura awoke for the second time, it was daylight and the woman was nowhere to be seen. He had an idea of what happened to him, but he did not believe it. He could not. So he walked out into the sun and caught fire, the same fires that had burned him into his new life.

He crawled back into the dark house the woman had taken him to like an animal, sobbing. He cradled his arms around his chest and made himself as small as possible. The scent of his burnt flesh was nauseating, and when he vomited it was a thin string of viscous red matter. He sat there trembling until the soothing light of the night cane and then he unfurled himself. Skin scabs cracked and wept and split off and fell to the ground. The pain came in wave after wave, but he continued to move because the woman was nowhere to be seen and he knew that if he did not escape now, he would not get another chance to.

He left and went to Ryou. His brother was the only person he was sure would help him. Bakura had been afraid of very few things in his lifetime, but suddenly now he was afraid of everything. He shrunk away from any lone passerbys still out on the streets at this hour and hid in the darker shadows. He thought that they would hurt him. But Ryou would not hurt him, so he went to Ryou.

"Ryou," he called. He'd climbed up to the window. They lived in a crowded building, and he did not want to go to the door, for fear that the others would see him. "Ryou!"

Ryou came to the window, as Bakura knew he would. He did not assume that Ryou would be sleeping, because he knew that he would not be. Ryou was a worrier, and he would not sleep if he were worried. He was right. When Ryou heard his cal and came to the window, he could tell from the bags under his eyes and the way his hair fell limply across his face that his brother had not slept any.

"Who… is it?" Ryou asked softly as he made his way to the window. The moon was full and the light from it fell on Bakura's ruined back. Blocking his face from view. He did nothing to change this. He was suddenly not so keen on Ryou seeing him.

"…Bakura? Is that you?" Ryou asked the question not because he thought that it was, but because he had no one else to inquire about. Hearing his name fall from his brother's lips made Bakura pause, and then speak once more.

"Ryou I… Something happened, Ryou," Bakura choked out. His voice sounded foreign to him through his charred vocal chords. Something in it much have informed Ryou of his identity, for now his brother lit a lamp with fumbling hands. The light briefly illuminated his burnt visage because Ryou gasped and it fell out of his hands and broke. The dark masked Bakura from view once more, but he could clearly see Ryou through it. He could see his brother's terror. Ryou was afraid. Ryou was supposed to love him, but now he took a step back.

"Wh-what… What are you?" Ryou demanded shrilly.

"It's me… It's Bakura…"

"…N-no! No it's not! Get away! Get away from me!"

"Ryou, I was bit, this woman—"

"No!"

"I don't know what happened, I didn't know where else to go, I—"

"Leave! Stay away! Don't hurt me!"

The words made Bakura finally stop trying to explain. Ryou was terrified of him, that much was obvious. His twin had backed as far away from the window as he could get and was cradling his head in his hands, shaking and crying. His eyes were closed. He did not want to see him. Bakura thought that he would not have wanted to see himself, either. He was a monster now. But it hurt to think that Ryou, his beloved brother who had been there for him when no one else had, was now rejecting him. Ryou thought he would hurt him. Like he had before. Maybe he was even more of a monster now than he had been then.

"All right, Ryou. I'm leaving. Goodbye," he said. He jumped away from the window of the building and landed on the street. He winced as his scabs rubbed together. He felt some of them break off and fall to the ground, and the sores underneath them wept and bled. He didn't even know if Ryou had heard him.

He had not known what to do. He'd expected Ryou to help somehow and make everything better, but that hadn't happened. Ryou was afraid of him. Bakura felt his eyes prickle and hurt, and though he did not know it, they had turned red. He suddenly remembered where he was and that he was vulnerable, and so he ran through the streets and found somewhere to hide. He stopped, panting, in an ally way framed on either wide by a dingy apartment building. He ears twitched and picked up the excruciating sounds of a baby screaming and screaming, a woman sobbing, and people everywhere it seemed yelling and fighting with each other.

And the dying. He could _smell_ the scent of death all around him, old and rancid and repulsive but also mouthwatering. He knew instinctually that the dying would be the easiest to hunt and to harvest. Not the most tasteful, but he was starving he realized, and his body was changing without even his knowledge of it.

He let out a startled gasp when he looked down and saw the muscles he had not possessed before. He held his hands out before him and saw that they were long and clawed. His mouth felt fuller and he ran his tongue over teeth that were sharp and pointed and unnatural. He screamed and gripped his head to stop the scents and the sounds and the alien knowledge he felt his should not have. His claws pierced through his scalp and drew blood. It drove him ravenous. He screamed again and fell to the ground and thrashed on it, too far gone into himself to even feel the pain of his ruined skin.

"Bakura! Bakura!"

He came back to himself with the call of his name. He opened his eyes and knew that Ryou was searching for him. He tried to get up to go to his brother, but he was too hungry and it made him weak. He couldn't do anything more than to lie there.

"Bakura! …Oh, oh god… I don't know what to… Oh…" Ryou had found him. He could barely remain awake to see his brother.

"Ryou… I… I, she bit me, Ryou… She…" He didn't know what he was saying. His voice was so quiet that he didn't know if Ryou could actually hear him.

He felt Ryou help him off the ground, and he hissed in pain when skin brushed against his wounds. Ryou recoiled away instantly. Bakura could not make out his expression, but he could smell his brother's fear, and he was disgusted with himself for causing it.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know it… I'll be more careful," Ryou stuttered. He came close and tried to help Bakura again, even more gingerly this time. For his part, Bakura tried not to show any further signs of his discomfort. Ryou stank of nerves and his body was possibly even more jittery than Bakura's own, but the two steadily made their way back to the tiny apartment they lived it. It was slow work, but it helped that no one was out so late at night to see them. When Bakura was finally safely inside the house, he allowed himself to collapse and the pain to overcome him.

He awoke in fragments. He knew that he was safe here with Ryou, but his body and new instincts fought against the healing sleep he'd fallen into and forced him awake just as the sun was beginning to rise. He spun around in the bed Ryou must have laid him down upon and looked at the window. He only rested when he made sure that the blinds were closed and even then he did not fall to sleep before pulling a blanket protectively over his body.

He woke again screaming from a pain that seemed to originate from all areas of his body, and his cries brought Ryou into the room. He remembered his brother's terror and the way his claws had cut furrows into the soft skin when with tears Ryou pleaded for him to stop. He screamed and bellowed even more when Ryou began to bleed, and his noise caused the younger of the two of them to leave the room in a frenzy.

He awoke again to Ryou shakily bringing a cup to his lips, full of the most delicious liquid he had ever tasted. It coated his charred vocal chords and healed the cracked linings of his larynx. When he screamed next, it was no longer the inhumane shriek his lungs had pushed out before.

He knew that he was healing as he slept. After Ryou had fed him the drink. He could feel new skin cells growing to replace the ones he'd lost, though how this could happen he did not know. He knew that he was dead. He could smell the stench of his own body just as easily as he could those around him.

"Bakura."

He opened his eyes and found that he could see. The room was black, but Ryou's face stood out at him like the blanched face of the full moon. For the first time since he had been brought here, he found enough strength to lift himself up in the bed. Skin cracked and fell away. He felt better, but he was not healed yet. He noticed that Ryou backed away from him when he made the movement. The flinch was hardly perceptible, but Bakura's quick-moving eyes caught it as if it had been made in slow motion.

"Bakura, I-I've made up by mind." Ryou said, bringing his brother's attention back to his face. Ryou seemed to pause here and lose his nerve when Bakura's gaze found him again. He hesitated. His determination faded. Then he came to some inner conclusion and his hands fisted around the blanket on the bed.

"I… I want you to do it to me. What she did to you. I want you to bite me."

Bakura regarded the question with a curious amount of apathy. He did not see anything wrong with the idea, though he had not thought his brother would be the one to come up with it. Then his human mentality caught up to the mind of the monster he recognized himself as, and he reacted so violently to the words that it almost sent Ryou flying off the bed.

"_What_?"

"I said that I wanted you to—"

"I _know_ what you said. What I want to know is _why_." He knew that he was scaring Ryou with the violence in his voice, but he could not contain it.

"Bakura I… I don't understand… What do you mean?"

"I want to know why you would want to become this!" Bakura screeched. He was suddenly out of the bed, cornering Ryou against the wall. It was the movement he had wanted to make, but he could not recall having even made it. Ryou's eyes had dilated as black as the new moon. He was angry at himself for moving and looking and being what he was now, but he could not contain it. He was angry at Ryou as well. Angry at him for asking such a thing. His claws were out and against the soft underside of Ryou's neck without his wanting them to be there. He saw for the first time the shining red of his eyes in Ryou's pit-less mirror-like state, and his hatred made them glow fiercer.

"_Why_ would you ask me to do something like that? Do you _see_ what I am? Do you _see_ what a monster I've turned into? Do you _see_? Do you, Ryou?" he roared. Ryou was blubbering and crying and he said something that Bakura could not understand.

"_What_?"

"You're not a monster. You're not, you're not," Ryou said, shaking his head. Bakura's red eyes widened and his arm shook. Instead of releasing Ryou like he wanted to, his hand tightened around the fragile throat.

"Do you see me?" he asked, voice low and monotone. "Do you _see_ me, Ryou? Do you?"

"I do," Ryou answered.

"No you don't," Bakura spat out in disgust. He released Ryou. Ryou dropped to the floor and wheezed. He went back to the bed.

"I do," Ryou said finally. He had a hand around his throat, rubbing distractedly. He was not shaking. He no longer gave off that stench of fear. His brown eyes were fixed on his brother. His expression was the same one he'd used when talking to their parents. Bakura looked around at him and watched with faint amusement.

"I see my brother. I don't know what happened to you, but you aren't a monster. You're just Bakura. And I don't want for the two of us to have to be apart."

Bakura watched him now with a guarded expression as Ryou came closer. Something told him not to move.

"I want you to bite me, Bakura. I want to be what you are," Ryou said. Bakura looked at him, and then at his own clawed hands. He took a step forward and was unsure if he meant to make the move at all.

His body screamed for him to take what was being offered to him. He was _starving_. And his wounds hurt again. They hurt and ached and he wanted them gone. This was what Ryou wanted. Ryou wanted to be with him, to be the same creature he was. Ryou had decided this all by himself. Who was he not to do it?

He bit Ryou without another thought. Ryou gasped sharply and his arms instinctually moved to the front of his body to fend off his attacker. Ryou's blood filled his mouth and he recognized it as the liquid his brother had given him earlier. He drank it eagerly, and without disgust. He drank and drank and was forced to stop only when Ryou's weight betrayed him and his brother collapsed bonelessly to the floor.

He knew that he had drank too much, and he knew that Ryou now needed his own blood. He bit open his wrist and forced it to Ryou's mouth. When he got the infected blood down his brother's throat, the change began to happen immediately as healthy, living cells were viciously attacked, infected, killed, and then reanimated when the disease reached Ryou's brain. Bakura watched his brother scream and writhe on the floor. His own wounds healed almost instantly aster drinking Ryou's blood, but his body still shook with the recalled memory of the pain. He knew what Ryou was going through and he felt sick for being the one who had put him through such an ordeal. His human side had one again caught up to his monster, but he'd realized too late what he'd been made to do. He could only stand and watch and hope that he had not condemned his brother to death.

00000

For some time after Bakura finished talking, Marik sat around and waited for him to finish. The tale had ended so abruptly that it took him a while to catch up and realize that it _was_ over.

"So now you know everything," Bakura said, not turning to look at Marik. "You happy now?"

"Well not _everything_," Marik was quick to point out. Bakura chuckled a bit.

"It would take a lot longer than a trip to the cemetery to fill you in on everything, even if it was one of Ryou's trips. And besides, he's about finished up now anyways," Bakura said, lazily motioning over to Ryou. Marik looked. The sun was beginning to set and he figured the cemetery would be closing soon, but nothing about Ryou's posture suggested that he was readying himself to leave. He was still kneeling at the base of the grave, fingers splayed over its rough surface and head down and eyes closed. However, just as Bakura had predicted, soon enough Ryou rose from his prayer-like stance and headed toward the two of them with a soft smile.

"You both ready to go?" he asked.

"We were only waiting on you, squirt," Bakura teased as he stood up. He offered his hand to Marik, who took it, and then pulled him up beside him. Together the three walked out of the graveyard.

Bakura and himself led the group. Ryou seemed content to remain quietly in the back. The silence that fell upon them was not an uncomfortable one, yet Marik felt a yearning to break it all the same. It felt like there was something he should be saying to both brothers, yet he did not know what to say to either. He had learned today of both Ryou's long-dead ex-lover, and the childhood and death of both teens. He felt like he should be comforting them somehow, or at lease bringing up some conversation.

"Thanks," he decided to say to Bakura. The teen beside him inclined his head just a bit and looked at him strangely.

"For what?" he asked.

"For telling me about all that stuff," Marik answered. He gestured around quite uselessly to elaborate on his point, and Bakura seemed to smile. Marik realized he was being made fun of and huffed. "Look, all I'm saying is that you didn't have to tell me if it made you uncomfortable, but I'm glad that you did."

"I didn't mind to much," Bakura answered. He shrugged and faced forwards. "And besides, we're supposed to tell each other shit like that, right?"

"I guess," Marik agreed. He felt a twinge of guilt and stifled it. Bakura had a point, but there were some things that should be kept secret too, right? And besides, he had never _asked_ about it.

"I'm sorry," Marik said impulsively. Bakura again looked at him strangely, but this time there was a bit of crinkling between his brows and he looked more concerned than amused.

"For what?" he asked. Echoes of earlier.

"For everything that happened to you," Marik explained shortly. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that." Not a lie, but not quite the truth either. He _was_ sorry that Bakura's life had been so crappy, and he was sorry that no doubt much of what Bakura had not told him had been crappy as well. But it was not this that he was apologizing for.

"Yeah, well bad things happen to people for no good reason. It's just the way the world works," Bakura said. Marik nodded in taciturn agreement. For the rest of the time they were quiet again, and not Marik was a bit too caught up in his own thoughts to put much into it.

When they reached the brother's apartment, Ryou bid them both goodbye and went inside without waiting to see if anyone would follow him. That felt Bakura and Marik alone outside. It was definitely cold out, and Marik shivered when a particularly frigid blast of wind howled past them. He was thankful for the winter coat he had decided to bring with him. Through he'd traveled to colder areas with his family, he had still never quite gotten used to how cold the weather could turn.

Putting the thoughts from his head, he turned to Bakura, who was still looking at the door Ryou had gone through. "Is he going to be okay?" he asked in regards to the other boy.

"Ryou will be fine," Bakura answered. He gaze was still glued to the door. "He's stronger than he looks. He'll be a bit down for a few days, but he'll get over it." Abruptly then, he turned to give his undivided attention to Marik. "So. What do we do now then?"

Marik was a bit surprised by the question. "I thought I was just going to go home," he said.

"Well I suppose you can do that if you want to, but it's a little boring, isn't it?"

"Well what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing really," Bakura admitted with a shrug. "It just seems like we haven't had much time to just sit around and do nothing. What with you breaking into the museum and running off to help dismayed girls. You never told me what happened with that, by the way."

"What, with the girl or the museum?" Marik asked.

"Both, I guess."

Marik hummed and took a seat on the ground. The cold that meant his butt instantly make him regret the decision, but by that time Bakura had already taken a seat next to him and it was too late to move. "Well I slept in pretty late this morning and missed most of the drama with the museum. Malik tells me that Isis got a phone call pretty early in the morning and rushed straight out the door. She called a few hours later to say that the museum had been broken into last night. There's some damage, but nothing looks stolen. Oh, and no one seems able to explain what happened to the elevator," Marik said, stopping to shoot a dirty look at the being beside him. Bakura just smiled a decidedly innocent looking smile and motioned for him to continue.

"As for the girl, her name is Natalie and she's gone now. We helped her out pretty recently and she got it into her head that Malik was her savior. But as you saw, she's been set straight about all of that," he finished. Bakura quirked an eyebrow at him.

"For that being an answer to my question, you sure did a surprisingly poor job of actually answering it. I could care less about where she is now, as long as it's away from your brother. For Ryou's sake," he added when Marik gave him a strange look. "What I want to know is what the hell she did to make you so pissed off. Given the fake names she used for the two of you and that she was so happy to see your brother, I'm figuring that they thing you Ishtars left to do two months ago was to go help her out. Am I right?" He was, of course, and he saw it in the miserably hidden surprise on Marik's face at the words. Bakura grinned at his success and continued on. "So was it something about all of that that pissed you off?"

"She was a bit difficult to deal with," Marik decided to settle on after some moment's thought. Though his mind had been occupied with the Gourou problem of late, that didn't mean he had completely forgotten about the two vampires that had been killed. He didn't mind Bakura knowing how he had met Natalie, but he didn't want to talk about what had happened during their last meeting. While it had not been he to kill the two, he had not done anything to prevent their deaths. It felt too much like a betrayal.

"That it?" Bakura asked.

"That's it," Marik agreed. "It just put me in a rotten mood and I snapped what I didn't need to."

Bakura didn't say anything in response. He looked up at the sky and Marik pulled his coat closer to him. He couldn't tell if Bakura believed him or not, but he felt like he didn't. The mood lay half-obscured behind a thick layer of cloud coverage, and the lack of light made it seem all the colder out. He didn't like the silence. He didn't get to think of it any more before Bakura was tugging him closer and their mouths were connected. He could feel Bakura's tongue, and before he even had a chance to bring his own into the fray, Bakura's was already in his mouth, exploring with such ardor that it almost seemed instead like desperation. He clung fiercely to Marik's body, to the point where his grip alone almost hurt. When the high-energy kiss came to an end, whenever had come over Bakura had passed, and he looked as he always did. Grinning, self-assured, confident, cocky, and untroubled.

"Lets go do something," he said. Marik almost laughed.

"I thought we already decided that neither of us can think of anything to do," he said instead.

"Well I'm a bit hungry," Bakura mused thoughtfully. Marik raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"You're suggesting that the two of us go out into the woods for you to find some poor animal, kill it and drink its blood?" he asked. Bakura nodded, completely serious. Marik almost smacked him to get him to see how weird this was. "I can't tell if this is some sort of romantic date or a horror show."

"Oh come on, it's not like you have anything better to do," Bakura argued. "No seriously, what are you going to go back to? Your boring adopted brother who I don't think I've ever heard say a word, your psychotic little brother who will do who the hell knows what, and your sister who will bitch about her precious museum? Doesn't sound like a very interesting alternative to me."

"Bakura, I'm a _vegetarian_. That means I kind of have this thing against animals being killed," Marik explained politely.

"So? I'm your boyfriend." That word gave Marik some pause. It just sounded so strange coming from Bakura's mouth, and he flung it about without any reservations. Of course, now they wee not just boyfriends, but lovers as well, and somehow that sounded even worse. He was glad Bakura had not chosen to use _that_ word. Titles like that didn't really seem to fit them.

"Fine, I'll go," he relented. It might not have been the highest thing on his to-do list, but what the hell, he didn't really have anything else to do. "I just can't be out too late, or Isis will flip. And she's bound to already be in a mood due to the museum thing."

"Good. Then follow me, Blondie." The old nickname made Marik smile. He hadn't heard it in a while, and he sort of missed the teasing Bakura had done when they'd first become friends. Of course they still teased each other now, but it was a different kind of teasing. Now they were… boyfriends. He liked "Blondie" or even "Slut" a lot better than that term. It just somehow didn't seem to fit.

Bakura and he headed out in the car. Normally the campfire would have headed to the woods on his own without the use of the vehicle, but not everyone could run as fast as he could, and so the car it was. He took the fancy convertible and drove with the top down. Marik complained that it was cold, but Bakura laughed and called him a baby, and in an effort to prove otherwise, the top remained down. The clouds in the sky cleared and soon they were driving with all of the night visible to them. Of course it would no longer look like this once they reached the woods, but for now Marik tried to enjoy the view, despite his near-constant shivering. Bakura wasn't even wearing a jacket, the prick.

They parked the car in a secluded area a bit away from the paths so that any police patrolling the area wouldn't spot them. Then they left the car, and with Bakura leading, headed on into the woods.

As Marik had assumed it would be, it was dark. Very dark. The tops of the trees blocked the light from the moon and stars that had glowed so softly beforehand. It reminded Marik of the wooded area surrounding his own house, although he knew that everything there was protected. Out here were a number of wild animals, and one hungry vampire. Not that he thought he was in some sort of trouble, but the situation might have unnerved a normal person.

Marik did not have any clue where they were headed. He had not ever gone to this part of Domino in all the time he'd lived here, other than the time Ryou had taken him to talk to Bakura. Even if he had been familiar with the layout of the land, it was far too dark to see much of where he was going. He let the other teen lead him. After all, it was his dinner outing, and he was the one with the enhanced super senses.

He wasn't expecting Bakura to stop as suddenly and abruptly as he did. The other teen came to a complete stand-still, and Marik instinctually fell into the same tensed position beside him. His gaze searched the trees and underbrush around them carefully, but even though his eyes had grown used to the darkness, he still could not see anything out there that would have caused Bakura to stop as he did. He wondered if Bakura saw something. Maybe an animal to catch. He didn't move from his stationary spot until Bakura's body visibly relaxed, and he took is as a cue to begin talking.

"What was that?" he asked.

"…I don't know. Something is out here with us. Some kind of animal, maybe. A big one." He sounded unsure, and just a bit worried.

"But it's gone now," Marik said, venturing a guess.

"Mmm."

Not a definite answer. It if were still here, he thought Bakura would have still been on his guard. So it was gone, but whatever it had been was enough of a threat to raise Bakura's hackles. Marik ventured another guess into the reasoning behind his unease. "You know I can take care of myself, right?" Bakura scoffed.

"Hello, who's the vampire hunter here?" Marik condescendingly questioned, hand placed on the jut of a hip.

"Don't talk about things like that so loudly," Bakura said. His gaze was still on the woods around them. Curiously enough, from what Marik could see of his face, he could make out that Bakura was not searching the grounds, but the treetops.

"Well it's true," Marik said. "Just because I didn't bring my machete with me doesn't mean that I'm helpless. I've been trained in combat all my life."

"Please," Bakura said with a dismissive toll of his russet eyes. "I've lived at least thirty of those lifetimes of yours. You can't prove anything to me that easily."

"Says the person who got himself caught in our traps," Marik pointed out helpfully. Bakura bristled.

"That was a bit of a mistake. I wasn't expecting anything to be there," Bakura said, faux-casual about the entire thing, like it had just been some tiny miscalculated detail. Marik was about to argue this point some more, when suddenly Bakura's body went still for a second time.

"Bakura? What's wrong?"

"Stay there," he commanded. "Unless you want to see me kill something, in which case you're more than welcome to accompany me, so long as you remain quiet." And with that, he headed off into the darkness of the woods. Marik hesitated for a moment, then decided to follow. He wasn't exactly keen on watching some poor animal die, but he didn't want to be left alone in an area he did not know, possibly with the animal Bakura had sensed. So he followed after the shock of white hair, the only thing he could see of Bakura in the darkness. They trod silently for a few tentative paces, then Bakura held a hand up and they paused. He motioned for Marik to stay put. Ahead, Marik's human eyesight could barely make out the silhouette of some animal. Then Bakura was upon it.

The kill was fantastic. Marik was already aware that vampires were excellent predators. He'd been taught as much by his parents and siblings, and had witnessed several different attacks from the observer's point of view and the prey's. But this was the first time he'd been able to witness one this close, and without having to fear for his life. It was brutal and magnificent. Bakura attacked the animal with a feral snarl and his bare hands so that he would not spill any of the animal's precious blood. The animal, startled, kicked at him and tried to make a run for it. Bakura lunged after it and Marik heard a "SNAP!" echo between the trees. The creature fell, flailing wildly as it went down. Bakura followed it. A terrible shriek of pain came from the creature, and Marik knew with a sick certainty that Bakura had bitten it. The vampire then began to feed.

The gruesome spectacle was both repulsive and hypnotic. Marik still could not identify what the animal was, but he witnessed its life leave its glassy eyes as Bakura replenished his own. It reminded him of the time Bakura had bitten him and Marik had feared for his life. That was something he'd had nightmares of. He'd been able to put it out of his mind, and remembering it now was not something he enjoyed. It reminded him exactly of what Bakura was. Of course, he never forgot that Bakura was a vampire, but it was easy to separate him from the bloodthirsty monsters Marik had hunted in the past when the two of them were together. Talking, joking, touching, kissing; the Bakura that did all of those things with him was a very different Bakura than the one on all fours in the dirt; animalistic, wild, brilliant, and frightening. But this was Bakura as well, and he could not forget that.

"You didn't loose your lunch after watching that, did you?" Bakura chuckled sensuously after he had finished his "meal". Marik actually had been growing hungry, but after witnessing that he didn't think he would be able to eat anything for the rest of the day. He paid attention to the husky tone of Bakura's voice with some interest though. He already knew that the blood of freshly killed feed rejuvenated a vampire as well as distracted them from their environment, but were there other wise effects as well?

"Are you all right? It really wasn't _that_ hard to watch, was it?" Bakura questioned. He took a step away from the cooling carcass of the animal and came close to Marik. There was blood staining his alabaster skin. It was only a shade lighter than the drenched crimson of his eyes. They had blackened almost completely, yet another reminder of the Bakura who had bitten him.

He had not enjoyed watching Bakura feed from the animal, but it had not been completely repulsive to him either. It was a fact of life. This was what Bakura did. This was how he survived. This was how he would continue to survive, because he was not a human like Marik, but a vampire, and vampires were immortal. He wondered if Yami had even been disgusted to see how Ryou ate, or if Ryou had always hidden that fact about him. It seemed like something Ryou would do, hide the ugly of what he was.

"Bakura… how are we supposed to make this work?" he asked. Bakura looked confused by the random words, and then concerned about Marik's strange behavior. Marik continued on without explaining. He voiced his fears as they came to him, and Bakura was left to catch up.

"What are we supposed to do about my siblings? They already think I've been sneaking around with some girl whenever I come back with marks on my neck. They just think that you're my friend. Malik is the only one who knows otherwise, and even with him I've never come straight out and said that you and I are dating, or fucking, or whatever. How the hell am I supposed to tell Isis and Rishid that? And that's not even mentioning all of the problems that crop up when you consider what you are! If any of them knew, they'd kill you!"

"They wouldn't be able to," Bakura scoffed, eyes narrowed. Marik continued on as if he hadn't even spoken.

"I just don't understand how this can work. I can't lie to them forever—eventually they're going to put two and two together and figure out that you're the one I've been spending all my time with. And then if they don't disown for going out with a guy, they're going to want you to come over all the time, and learn more about you, and I just can't keep all this shit hidden if that happens!" Marik cried out.

"So what are you saying?" Bakura asked carefully. Marik blinked and looked at him. He'd almost forgotten that Bakura too could participate in this conversation.

"I don't know," he said. "I-I'm not really saying _anything_. I mean, not anything _new_. I know all of this already, but I just really started thinking about it _now_. Ryou got me thinking some too. I mean, I'm going to get old one day and die, and you-you'll just be the same old Bakura."

"That's right," Bakura said. "One day you will die. And I won't. So what are you saying? And don't tell me nothing again, because you don't say all of that _shit_ and then go and say it doesn't mean anything. So what are you trying to tell me here, Marik?"

"Bakura, I'm not—"

"Look, if you want to end this, then own up and say it. Don't beat around the fucking bush. Just come out and say that maybe it's too hard for you after all, and that'll be the end of it." Bakura's face was hard. He gave nothing away.

"That's not what I'm saying," Marik said, and even he had to admit that it was a feeble argument. It _wasn't_ what he was saying, but to anyone's ears that was what it would sound like.

"Don't play games with me, Marik," Bakura warned. "You were the one going on earlier today about how you could deal with all of this and not hate me. _You_ were the one who wanted to start this thing. _I_ didn't want anything to do with it, if you'll remember. So if you've got cold feet now then say it and stop lying."

Marik frowned. What had happened to hurt his confidence from earlier? He'd been so sure then. It wasn't as Bakura thought. He wasn't lying, he knew that. When he thought about stopping this and trying to stay away from Bakura, his chest gave a little lurch and he suddenly felt nauseous. No, he did not want to end this, but he was looking now at problems that before he had ignored. Ryou had brought up the inescapable fact of his own morality. Right now he could easily dismiss Ryou's story about Yami, because he was not at that point in his life. He was a teenager still with Bakura, and everything was okay. He could not realistically know how he would feel as the years passed and he aged, though he still did not feel like he could ever grow to hate Bakura.

And then there was his family. Even if he felt like his siblings would be understanding (or in Malik's case, tolerant) of his being in a relationship with a male, being in one with a vampire was completely different altogether. They would never accept it. Even if he could prove it to them that Bakura and Ryou were not a danger to humanity, first and foremost, they were still hunters. They would try to kill the two brothers the moment they found out what they really were. They wouldn't be able to understand like Marik did, because they did not know them.

Marik stopped. The phrasing of his thoughts had given him an idea. He looked up at the small amount of sky he could see through the trees, and took comfort in the moon's presence there. The idea was so terrible that he didn't even want to think about it, but…

"You could turn me into a vampire," he said. But… But it was an idea. It was a way he could make things work.

Bakura reacted violently to the suggestion. He took an involuntary step backwards and his unaffected expression easily broke to reveal his surprise. Then he marched forward and stood as close to Marik as he dared.

"No," he answered. Marik was surprised by the vehemence in his response.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I'm not doing that to you," Bakura insisted, shaking his head. "I already had to do that to Ryou. I'm not doing it to anyone else."

Marik was a bit pit off by his absolute refusal. It wasn't something he _wanted_ to do, but it would make things work, and he was at least making the effort. Bakura was not even trying.

"Look, it's the only way I can think of that will make things work out. If you turn me into a vampire I'll be immortal like you and Ryou. That's one problem out of the way. And if I'm a vampire, my siblings will have to listen about the two of you. They wouldn't hurt me. I would force them to see that you and Ryou aren't anything to be afraid of. I don't like it either, but it's the only answer I can come up with," Marik said.

"Then you'll just have to think of another one, because I'm not doing it," Bakura insisted. The vampire cut him off when he saw that Marik was going to protest his refusal once more. "No, listen. It's not a simple thing to do. You don't just give a person some blood and they turn into a vampire. It's a dangerous process, and both participants run the risk of dying if it doesn't go exactly the way it's meant to. No, I'm not done yet," he said as Marik again tried to cut in. He put the whole of his attention on the other male. "It's a curse, Marik. Believe me, immortality isn't worth it. Believe it or not, life gets to be pretty boring after you've lived it for a few hundred years. You don't want to be what I am. And I won't do it to you."

Silence.

"Then what do we do?" Marik asked. Bakura shrugged and looked away.

"That's up to you," he answered. Marik frowned. He tried to remember what he had felt earlier, how he had been able to so strongly say that things would turn out well. He could remember the words and the feeling he'd had, but it was somehow difficult to believe in them now.

"It'll be difficult," he said finally, looking back at Bakura. The vampire was doing a good job of pretending to not be that interested. "But I won't try to suggest that we stop this. I guess I just hadn't realized until this point that we're going to have a lot of work to do." Bakura broke into a fearsome looking grin. Though he wasn't trying to show it, Marik could see that he was relieved to hear this answer. It was almost cute, the lengths that Bakura would go to to try and keep his innermost feelings hidden.

"Glad to hear toy come to the right decision. Now, what else did you want to do tonight?" Bakura asked.

"I don't think there are a great many options still left open to us, what with the mess you made of your meal there," Marik pointed out, for the time being allowing his worries to once again go away unthought-of. Bakura looked down at himself and made a noise of disgust.

"I suppose I could have been a bit cleaner about that, couldn't I have?" he asked.

"Yup," Marik agreed. "Why don't you just take me back now? It's getting late, and I wouldn't be able to stay out much longer without incurring Isis's wrath anyways."

"Suit yourself," Bakura said with a shrug. He went back to the body of the cooling animal and heaved it up in the air. He carried it a few yards off into the darkness and deposited it in an area of bushes and leaves, evident only by all of the noise and rustling the action made. Then he took the lead out of the woods and headed back to the car. He put the hood up and drove with the heat on, something Marik was grateful for. His hands had almost gone numb. Then hey drove back to the Ishtar house.

Bakura stopped the car in the street in front of the path that led to Marik's doorstep. Marik didn't leave just yet. The aura of silence in the car had not exactly been a tense one, but he'd been able t sense that their talk had not been over. So he sat and waited for Bakura.

"We'll figure something out," he said suddenly. He was not facing Marik, and he appeared to be blushing slightly. "If we really try, we'll figure out some way to make everything work. So don't be so worried about everything." Marik grinned.

"Aw, you're so cute," he teased. Then he leaned over and quickly pecked Bakura on the cheek. "Thanks"

He did not walk down the path that led to his house. That was too easy and obvious, and so of course there were traps on it. And so he made his own path, making sharp turns here or there, and skipping over seemingly nothing. He was so occupied by this, that for a while he did not hear the footsteps indicating that someone was copying his progress. When he did, he fell silent.

"Bakura?" he called. There was no answer. Marik knew that someone was following him, but he assumed it to be Bakura, and so he kept going. He made his movements a little harder to follow, hoping that he would stump his follower and force Bakura to call out to him for help. This did not happen. And when the person finally caught up, he was forced to recognize that this was not Bakura. His attacker caught him by surprise, and in no time had muffled Marik's mouth with a foul-smelling rag. Chloroform, he realized, and then fell unconscious.

00000

Ryou wasn't quite sure what he was doing. He'd woken up this morning feeling a bit out of sorts and not at all like his usual self. He supposed that he was sad, though there was no reason for him to feel such a way. Yami had died a great many years ago. There was no reason for him to continue visiting the old grave and wasting his time thinking about a relationship that had been so many years ago, but it was a bad habit he could no bear to break. He knew that Bakura thought it was both useless and stupid that he continued to visit Yami's grave so often, but Ryou didn't want to stop. While their relationship had soured at the end, it was still something that Ryou looked fondly upon.

He supposed that it was for this reason he found himself standing outside the door to the Ishtar's house. He did not think it was a betrayal to the memory of Yami that he wanted to go visit Malik. He just saw the unplanned visit as a way to possibly make him happy and feel normal again. He hoped that Malik would want to see him. He knew that it was unlikely, but it felt to him that something had changed between them at the museum, and that was what he was banking on. He knocked on the door and was pleasantly surprised to see the recognizable spiked hairstyle that mean Malik had answered it.

"About fucking time. Where the hell have you been—oh." Malik's voice fell flat when he noticed that it was Ryou at the door. Ryou squirmed and tried to figure out what to do now. He had never felt so uncomfortable around anyone else in his life. Malik had a precence about him that rendered anyone else ineffectual.

"Have you seen my good-for-nothing brother around? I assume he's still with yours," Malik said flatly. Ryou shook his head.

"Actually, I haven't seen him. Bakura hasn't either. He told me when I came over to tell Marik to on his damn phone," Ryou responded helpfully. Malik scowled thoughtfully. During the lull in the conversation Ryou took out his phone and texted Bakura what he'd learned. His own brother was probably still lying on the couch, bouncing a ball off the walls. He would have to find some other way to keep occupied.

"Has he not come home since yesterday? Maybe someone should go out and look for him," Ryou suggested.

"It's not important," Malik said dismissively. "The only one who's really worried is Isis. He's fine. He's gone days without coming back before. We both have." Ryou found himself nodding. Malik was no doubt referring to the days when they'd been in their gang. It was nice having that piece of information available. Even if it hadn't been willingly offered up, it was nice having another context with which to reach the Ishtar twins by.

"So why are you here?" Malik asked, hard eyes swiveling to focus in on Ryou. Ryou recovered from his brief daze and politely asked if Malik could repeat the question, which he begrudgingly did.

"Ah," Ryou said, suddenly clamming up and blushing. How could he say that the reason he was here was just to see Malik himself? "I umm… I wanted to inquire if you would like to accompany me for a walk."

"A walk," Malik repeated slowly. His face was as unreadable as ever. Even his eyes gave nothing away. He was fascinating to observe. How could he switch moods so quickly? Malik went from an extreme so powerful that his words, actions, and entire being were alight with emotion, to the far other end where he seemed so empty and listless that it was had to believe he was actually aware of what was going on around him. Ryou wondered if these dual personalities were the result of some type of medication the youngest Ishtar was on, or were naturally occurring.

"Why would you want to go on a walk with me?" Malik asked. He sounded like he genuinely did not understand the reasoning behind this request.

"Because I like you," Ryou answered, and then was quick to add, as a friend, of course! And friends visit each other and hang out. So would you like to?"

Malik mulled the decision over in his head and scratched idly at the nape of his neck. "Fine," he concluded, then grabbed a heavy purple coat and shut the door behind him.

"Shouldn't you tell someone that you're going out?" Ryou wondered. Malik shrugged and marched on ahead.

For a while they walked on in a silence that Ryou was gradually becoming accustomed to. It seemed that on the occasions where he was able to get some alone time with Malik, he would forever be damned to spend it in an all-encompassing awkward silence. But, he told himself, at least he was here with Malik! That certainly counted for something. Not much, the other part of his brain chimed in. That part sounded surprisingly similar to his pessimistic brother. Just when Ryou was about to start a conversation about the weather just to prove that he _could_ come up with something to say, Malik broke the silence himself.

"Why did you save me back in the museum? That man meant to kill me, but you made him miss," he said.

"Well of course I did!" Ryou said, appalled that someone could think that he would do otherwise. "I couldn't have let him just kill you."

"But he could have wound up killing you instead," Malik pointed out. Actually, it wouldn't have, but Malik of course couldn't know this.

"I couldn't have let you die," Ryou repeated again.

"I wouldn't have done the same for you," Malik said. Ryou's determined expression faded just a bit. Of course this didn't come as a surprise to him, but it was a little disheartening, to say the least.

"That's okay," Ryou said and tried to smile. Malik leered down at him and laughed.

"I don't understand you at all," he announced. "Most people would run away from me. They wouldn't go saving me or asking me out on walks. They certainly wouldn't offer me their friendship. I'm crazy, after all." He laughed some more and did seem quite crazy at the moment. But Ryou was not fazed by this behavior. Maybe he wasn't normal like most people with how he handled Malik. He he'd seen much more of like than they had. He knew how to read people and see them for whom they were. And while Malik was most definitely a bit unorthodox, he was not crazy. Not in the sense that he needed to be locked up. He was lonely, and all he needed was someone who would be able to understand him.

"I don't think you are. And I'm not afraid of you. You're just different," Ryou said cheerfully. Malik did not react well to this. His laughter cut off and his eyes constricted and then Ryou was pushed hard up against the pole of a street lamp. Even for how advanced Ryou's senses were, the attack had still been unexpected.

"Stop saying things like that!" Malik hissed angrily. His face was furious and his fists were bunched tightly around the fabric of Ryou's coat around his neck. Ryou spoke his next words carefully. He knew that if he enraged Malik too much, he would strike.

"Saying what? That I'm afraid of you? That I think you can be nice? That I want to be your friend?" With each question those fists tightened more and more. "I'm not lying when I say any of those things, Malik. That is what I truly believe."

"You're lying," Malik hissed.

"I'm not."

"Yes you are! _Everyone_ is afraid of me! I'm not normal! They all see the monster and run away," Malik snarled. Ryou was startled by this. Not because of the words, for he had surmised as much on his own. But by the sentiment, and the self-loathing behind them. He recognized this. This was the same way Bakura had viewed himself. He knew how to handle this.

"What monster?" he asked.

"This!" Malik yelled. He slammed Ryou back against the pole hard enough to make him wince. "All of me! All of me is the monster! Don't you lie to me! Don't you _lie_ and say you can't see it! I've killed people! You heard! I killed that fucker Abul! I took my brother's knife and I stabbed him, and stabbed him, and stabbed him, and fucking stabbed him! He was a dirty _liar_ like you, and he was trying to get close to my brother. _My_ Marik! He was trying to convince him! He was a dirty liar like you, and he was trying to convince him that it wasn't his _fault_, that he was being blackmailed, and I knew that it would work. So I killed him. I was going to kill that fucker who shot at me, and I could kill you too! I'll kill fucking all of you!"

"But you didn't!" Ryou said with some difficulty. Malik had lost it almost completely. His eyes were wide and unseeing and his mouth stretched wide in a terrible parody of a grin. He was choking Ryou, and though he could not suffocate him, it made speech difficult. He needed to get Malik back to his senses and soon, or things would get messy if they were allowed to progress.

"You didn't kill that man! You shot him, but you didn't kill him, Malik, you didn't! You aren't a monster! You're confused and you're lonely, but you aren't!" Ryou cried out. He could remember clearly when two nights ago, Malik chose not to kill the bodyguard that had tried doing the same to him. For a long time Ryou had thought that he would, but Malik had resisted that urge. A monster would not be able to do something like that. A monster would have killed that man. Ryou knew that Malik wasn't what he thought he was, because he had proof.

"Shut up or I'll kill you!" Malik screamed.

"You won't," Ryou said, slowly shaking his head. He smiled. "I know you won't, Malik. I'm not afraid. See? I'm not."

"I will!" he said, though Ryou heard that he sounded unsure. His grin was now a troubled snarl.

"You won't. I know that you won't. I can see that you're good, even if you can't." He'd been able to see in back in the museum as well.

Malik's eyes grew even wider. His hands twitched, tightened, then loosened enough so that Ryou could breath again. He leaned in close, and Ryou prayed that he has said the right thing. He prayed that he had not misjudged Malik.

Malik leaned in close, much too close, and Ryou's gaze began to dart around the street to make sure that it was truly empty, something he had not bothered to do until now. Malik was so close now that Ryou could feel his harried, ragged breaths. And he was staring at him the entire time, staring at him like he were some fascinating creature. He leaned in close. Ryou refused to believe what was happening and began to squirm madly against the pole. Surely this was a dream, some cruel dream that he would wake up from any minute now—

"Shut the hell up and stop moving," Malik commanded, and Ryou obeyed because there were again lips on his own.

It was not a kiss. Ryou had been alive for a great many years and experienced a great number of kisses, and he knew that this was not one. This was not action or movement. This was the barest touch of flesh against flesh, tantalizingly close, but far enough that they still remained strangers. This was not passion. This was a coping mechanism. This was Malik trying to regain control of himself through the touch of another. This was Malik creating a connection with another person and struggling to come back to the world. Ryou wanted so badly to move and make it more, but Malik had commanded him and so he did not. This was not romance. This was not something to start a relationship from. But this was what Ryou had. This was what Ryou had been given to cling to.

Malik broke the small touch that had bridged them. For a moment their foreheads touched and Malik rested against him, but then he pulled away from that. Malik let him go, and then they were not even touching in that sense anymore.

"Malik?" Ryou asked softly. Malik was not facing him. He didn't know what to do. The similarities between him and Bakura had ended. This was all new, uncharted territory.

"You wanted to go for a walk," Malik said. Ryou nodded, though Malik could not see him. Malik started walking.

"Well come on," he said, finally showing his face to Ryou as he looked back. He both looked and sounded annoyed that Ryou was not following him. There was obvious strain in his face as well. He was still trying to keep things together. Ryou smiled, a brilliant, happy smile, and caught up to the other male.

"Of course!" he responded cheerfully. He was thrilled when he got a not-so-annoyed scoff and an eye roll in response.

00000

Ryou had finally texted him back. Bakura pulled the cell phone out of his pocket, and though it put up a good fight, it ultimately would up in his hands. Bakura opened the text and read it. He'd been expecting Ryou to report back to him that he had passed on the message. Instead what he got was something completely different, saying that according to Malik, Marik had not been home since yesterday. Bakura quickly texted another message back. _Are you sure?_ Then he waited for a response.

It took Ryou forever to respond. He knew his brother. Being the courteous, polite person that he was, Ryou _always_ responded to texts in a timely manner, unless he was a school, in which case he did not even touch his phone. Obviously, Ryou was not at school right now. So for him to take so long to reply meant that he was preoccupied, and Bakura could guess with what. He gave up his hobby of seeing how long he could slam the ball at the wall before the neighbors had a melt-down and instead focused on pacing the length of the living room. In one hand was his phone, which he periodically check in case he had missed the text, and in the other was the ball, squeezed tight in a death grip. He refused to acknowledge that he was worried.

He finally got a reply about an hour and a half later. It was a very short, very abrupt, and very un-Ryou-like text.

_Yes._

It told him two things. The first was that Ryou was so busy with whatever it was he was doing with Malik that he could not be bothered to respond with an actual text. The second was that he was a complete and utter idiot. Bakura slammed the phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocked, just in case he would need it. He yanked his long trench coat off its hanger and left the apartment, curing himself for his stupidity.

He had underestimated them. He had thought that Marik would be safe. He shouldn't have assumed that they wouldn't dare to attack him after they'd seen the two of them together, and he certainly hadn't thought they would attack right outside of Marik's house, not with all the traps there. He'd greatly underestimated them.

Bakura had known there were other vampires in Domino long before the Ishtars had. He did not know any of the newcomers personally, but he registered their presence all the same. They had come before, several years ago, and were something familiar to him. There were outcasts as he and Ryou were. They too chose to feed off animals instead of humans. They were lead by a couple about two hundred years younger than he and Ryou, both of whom had gone through the same painful procedure he and Ryou had to increase their resilience to the sun. Ryou had once wanted to go and see them, but Bakura had managed to convince him to do otherwise. Both groups valued their privacy and did not feel the need to intrude on each other. They acknowledged each other and nothing more.

Just as Bakura had known they were here, he had also known that some of them had been killed. He had not put much thought into it. He hadn't thought that Marik and his family had anything to do with their deaths. He thought that they would flee Domino before any more of them could die. So he had been very surprised to see them show up in the forest last night. It was only then that he began to connect their deaths to Marik's family of hunters.

It made complete sense, and he was angry with himself for not having made the connection earlier. While it was true that vampires had been hunted and killed quite thoroughly, forcing those remaining alive to hide their existence if they wanted to stay that way, there wasn't much that could kill one. A hunter had a great amount of knowledge when it came to disposing of vampires. A hunter could kill one. And Marik belonged to an entire family full of them. He had to have had something to do with their deaths, even if it hadn't been him who'd killed them.

Bakura hadn't thought they would try anything. He'd hoped, apparently in vain, that his presence alongside Marik would have been enough of a hint that they should leave him alone. It hadn't been. They'd attacked Marik on his turf at that. They were pissed and looking for revenge. If they touched even one hair of Marik's, he would kill them.

He didn't know where they had taken Marik. But he knew that he could, and would, find out. They visited Domino once every decade or so, and his in different parts of town when they came back. Even so, every single time they'd come, Bakura had known. He did not have any contact with them, but it was easy to sense the dead among the living. The absence of a beating heart and pumping blood was duly noted to those creatures that survived on such things. He knew the general area of their haunt. All he had to do was search and ferret them out. Locating them would lead him to Marik.

Bakura ran there. He was not being as careful as he should have been. It was dangerous doing what he was, and he risked exposing himself, but he could not find it in himself to care. He would deal with the consequences of his actions later. Right now he had to find Marik. If any humans were paying attention enough to see him as he ran past, then so be it. Going by car was too slow, and if Malik was right that Marik hadn't returned home last night, then too much time had already passed.

He ran and followed the group of dead that he sensed among the living beating hearts. He had to alter his path here and there as his sense of them grew weaker when he strayed down the wrong path, but for the most part he came closer and closer to wherever they were keeping Marik. He wound up racing alongside the ocean by the pier. He raced past large cruise ships and smaller vessels mean for personal use. The size of some of the ships would have given many pause, but Bakura only spared them the briefest of glances. Marik was not in any of them. He continued on to a large grouping of warehouses. Marik was in one of them. He could hear the human's heart beat. He was still alive, but in what condition, Bakura had no way of knowing. He needed to find the correct building.

When he located it, he finally stopped his running. He placed both hands on the padlocked door of the warehouse and wrenched them apart. Before his eyes adjusted to the darker belly of the wooden structure he smelled burning and smirked a satisfied grin. Someone in here was _not_ immune to the sun.

His smirk didn't last very long. When he finally took a look inside the warehouse he found three vampires and Marik. Marik, to his relief, looked uninjured. His mouth was covered with duct tape and his eyes looked furious. His hands were tied together and hung on some type of hook hanging above him. This forced him to remain standing upright. One of the vampires was still smoking, and had hidden himself away from the dangerous rays of the sun illuminating most parts of the infrastructure. The other two were standing in front of Marik and glaring at Bakura with similar annoyed expressions.

"What are you doing here?" the female questioned. Bakura allowed himself to relax a bit. The two in the front were the leaders of the group. Neither of them were showing ay signs of starting a fight. Bakura cracked his face into a laid-back grin, but he kept his gaze focused on them both.

"You have something of mine," he said.

"Oh, so he's your slave then?" the female responded, quirking an eyebrow. "We found the bite and smelled vamp all over him, but we didn't know to whom he belonged. We saw him with you last night, but as you know, he's a hunter. He could have been the plaything of any vamps he'd killed. Personally, I'd thought the one who'd marked him had also been the one to carve him up so pretty." Bakura raised an eyebrow of his own at this. He had no idea what she was talking about, and the female saw this. She smiled.

"You don't know about that? Not a very good owner then, if you haven't even inspected your property fully. You seem to be far too lenient with him. Allow us to show you what we discovered about your precious little morsel here," she said. She pun Marik around on the hook. Bakura saw a flash of his livid lilac eyes, and then Marik's back was in front of him. The male came close and lifted the shirt off before Bakura could even get angry at the hands touching Marik. And then any fury he'd begun to cumulate was gone in an instant as he understood just why Marik had been so damn persistent in keeping his shirt on.

The scars covered every inch of the skin on his back, from the left shoulder blade to the right, and stretched down all the way to the small of his back. Bakura could not believe he had never noticed its existence earlier, so extensive the damage was. He recognized several different languages making up bits and pieces of the design, each so intricately interwoven together that it was impossible to interpret the result. He recognized the hieroglyphics of ancient Egyptian, Arabic, several European and Asian languages, and then even more he didn't know.

"Amazing, isn't it? We tried figuring it out, but it doesn't appear to make any sense. It's too complicated and involved. Whoever did it was quite obviously insane, though very skilled. It's beautiful," the female said, a hint of admiration in her voice as she looked at the tattoo.

It was. Individually, the parts looked random and all over the place, but together the beauty in the design was hard to miss. It had to have hurt. The sheer sprawl of the scar and how deeply the indentations appeared to go ensured that getting it done had to have been agony. But it was amazing. He could not understand why Marik had not wanted him to see it. Marik had meant to hide it from him for… how long? Most likely as long as he possibly could. That hurt. Hadn't they just told each other secrets? And Marik was still keeping more from him.

He forced the matter out of his mind and hardened his face. What mattered was getting Marik back now. When the two of them were away from here, then he could ask about that tattoo and how he'd come to get it. Right now he needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

"It's very pretty," he agreed. "But it's not what I'm here for."

"Why do you want him back so badly?" the female asked. She pun Marik around on the hook so he was again facing the lot of them. She did not return his shirt to him. The fact that he was still without it was obviously troubling to Marik, though the tension was only visible in the strain in his back. In every other way he made obvious how pissed he was His eyes bled poison as he glared at them all equally.

"He's just a slave, and though he is _certainly_ good looking, you're bound to have others, correct? I know you don't eat them, so you must use them for something else. Companionship, perhaps?" the woman mused. Her fangs peaked out from under her red lips. She leaned up against Marik as she mused, a pointed nail topping against her porcelain cheek.

"What I want with him is my business, and my business alone. All you need to concern yourself with is that I'm taking him," Bakura said, barely keeping his anger restrained. While the female was taunting him, the other two still hadn't made any moves yet. They were just as tense as he. One wrong move could start a fight.

"He that good at fucking? Maybe I should try him out," the female grinned. Bakura lunged forward. He made it across half the distance between them before the second leader of the group stopped him. The third, the burned one, had stood from his crouching position, but had not moved any closer to him. The male that was in front of Bakura now had a hand on his arm and was grinning in a similar fashion to the female. He was putting up a good front of being relieved as calm, as was she, but Bakura could see through it. They had angered him, and it made the tension level in the warehouse rise exponentially.

"Let him go. Now. I'm not going to say it again," Bakura ordered. The female shook her head.

"We can't do that," she said. The irritating grin had finally left her face. She was done fooling around.

"And why would that be?" Bakura asked. He wrenched his arm away from the vampire's hold on it and took a few paces back. The action worked to calm those in the room just a bit.

"We need him. You already know he's a hunter. He said as much last night. Two of our group have already been killed by him." She stopped here, paused to give Marik a look that said despite all of her teasing and taunting so far, she clearly hated him. Marik returned the look with an even greater power. She seemed satisfied by this and continued on.

"All we wanted to do was live. We didn't kill humans. We didn't harm the animals we hunted more than was absolutely necessary. We hadn't thought we were asking for a lot. Apparently, we were. But we've learned our lesson, and we don't hold grudges. While these humans think it fine to so indiscriminately hunt us all into extinction, the three of us left remaining will stick true to our word and not harm this human, despite all that he has done. All we want it to use his safety as a means of ensuring out own against the hunters as we leave Domino. Once we've gone, he'll go free," the female explained.

"So your plan was to keep him here until his family came searching for him, and then use Marik's life to bargain for your own safety?" Bakura asked. She nodded slowly. He snarled. "Seems like a foolish idea to me. This is the same place the other two of your group were killed, I can smell it. The hunters have been here before and know what the layout of the place looks like. They could come here and kill you all before either of you get a word out."

"It's not like we have a choice in the matter!" the female growled. Her eyes glowed a brilliant red. "We aren't all under the hunter's _protection_! We're being killed! We had to come up with a plan as quickly as we could!"

Bakura ignored the majority of that statement. He laughed. "You think I'm under his protection? And _that's_ why I'm still alive?"

"I don't care how you've managed to keep yourself and that mangy brother of yours from frying! All I see here is a vampire siding with a human—a hunter!—instead of his own kind." Bakura shrugged.

"I have loyalties to no one but myself. Don't think that because we're the same I'm automatically on your side. All I'm here for is to collect what's mine. And if you don't return him, you won't have to worry about the hunters coming. I'll kill you before then."

"Fine," the female said, eyes narrowed. "If that's the way things will be, then I suppose there's no further point in talking to you." She moved away from Marik and took up a stance beside the other leader of the group. The burnt one came forth too, though he was still staying away from the sun. He wouldn't be much of a problem unless Bakura went into the shade of the building. Even then he wouldn't have to pay him much attention. He was young and unsure of himself. The older two were the ones he would have to watch out for. He hadn't wanted to start a fight with them, but he wasn't leaving here without Marik.

The male struck first. Bakura hadn't been prepared for it and he barely managed to dodge the lunge. Claws still sliced into the skin of his arm. He scoffed and wiped the blood off. The male was fast. That was a bit unsettling. It wouldn't be enough to make Bakura lose, but it would cause him some trouble.

He was ready when the female came at him. He spun around and aimed a good kick at her midsection. It sent her flying back into several boxes piled high against one of the walls of the building. When she crashed into them they trembled and toppled down on her. Bakura smirked. He didn't have any time to taunt his opponent any further because again the male was on him, jabbing furiously at him, aiming for his neck. Bakura managed to dodge most of the sharp jabs, but for some he was forced to bring his forearms up and use them as a guard.

He grunted at the damage he was accumulating and looked for an opening. He didn't have the time to find one. The blows had pushed him back into the dark part of the warehouse, and now the burnt male was attacking him. He came flying at Bakura with fangs and claws bared. Bakura was only barely able to dodge him, but the movement cost him. One of the jabs caught him in his left shoulder. He winced and then grinned through the pain. He grabbed the male's hand before he could remove it, and then, by expanding his muscles and strength to do so, he flung the male at the burnt one and then darted back out into the sunlight.

The female came at him next. Her blonde hair streamed out behind her as she ran at him. She looked furious. Bakura saw immediately that she meant to tackle him, so he timed precisely the moment when he needed to move out of the way, then stepped to the right and let her pass. She had been expecting this. She came to a quick stop and spun around with her leg raised. The kick hit Bakura directly and sent him to his knees on the ground.

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching him and dropped completely to the ground. He opened his eyes and saw the male coming at him fast. Bakura rolled sharply to the left and dodged the blow. He swung his legs out and sent his attacker to the ground, then picked himself up off the ground. He stepped down hard on the male before he could escape and slashed out at the female before she could retaliate. He'd cut a long line across her chest, from her right shoulder down to her breastbone, where it ended when she moved away from him. She scowled angrily at him. He grinned.

"Want to give up yet?" he asked cheekily.

"Never," she spat. She charged at him again, and this time Bakura let his fist take care of her. She ran directly into it and stumbled to the ground. Bakura eyed her for a second before turning to his captive on the ground. He finally had a moment to take care of this troublesome fly.

"Bakura! Look out, you idiot!"

Instinctually, Bakura spun around to the sound of his name. His eyes were working a bit better than the rest of his mind in this instant, and he registered the piece of metal hurtling at him before anything else. He ducked quickly and heard the metal whiz past him. He stood and looked in the direction of where it had come from and saw that the burnt male had found a hoard of metal scraps in one of the toppled-over boxes. And now he was using them as weapons.

Bakura was forced to move from his spot above the first male when another chunk of metal was launched at him. A second missile followed soon after. He growled and dodged this one as well. Not that it mattered much, because the moment it was gone, there was another to contest with. Bakura dodged this one, and then the one that came after it as well, and then the one after that. He'd been hoping to just keep moving and eventually force the burnt vamp to run out of steam, but this didn't seem to be the case. Apparently he had an unlimited supply of the damn things. Something would have to be done about this. Just running away was getting to be bothersome.

He decided on a new course of action that would be rid of the pest once and for all. Bakura charged at him, dodging more hunks of scrap metal all the while. When he reached the safety of the shadowed area of the warehouse, the burnt one dropped his weapons and jumped at Bakura, all fangs and claws and ready to cause some serious damage. Bakura didn't try to dodge the attack this time. He allowed the other vampire to grab him, and then be backed up into the deadly rays of the sun.

The moment he felt the sun on him, the vampire began to scream and shriek. His immediate response was to get as far away as possible from the sun and back into the comforting caress of the shadows. Bakura did not let him do this. He held steadfast on to the vampire through it all. Only a few seconds into the torture, the burnt vampire's already cracked and charred skin caught fire. The flames licked at Bakura eagerly, but he grit his teeth together and held on through the pain. He would not die from this. He injuries would heal. But the younger vampire would not fare so well, and that was what Bakura was aiming for.

When the shrieking and the flames became unbearable, Bakura let go. The vampire toppled to the ground. All of the occupants of the room watched as it pitifully attempted to haul its charcoaled body to the shadows. Bakura knew that not even the safety of the darkness could save him. It was done for. The screeching came to an end in another matter of seconds, and the pile of charcoal burned swiftly away to a sooty black spot on the floor.

The other two vampires were the time being still flabbergast that their companion had met such a horrible end. Bakura took the moment of distraction to search for whomever had called his name and warned of the attack. He turned his attention first to Marik, and found that he'd been correct in his guess. The human had somehow managed to slip one of his wrists free from the ropes around them. The skin was chaffed and raw and bleeding from where the twine of the rope had cut into it. He had used his free hang to remove the tape from his mouth. He was struggling now to free his other hand and get himself down. Bakura headed in the direction to help him down, but the moment he moved, the other two broke free of their paralysis and came at him.

Suddenly Bakura had two very pissed off vampires to deal with. They both attacked him with a fury they had not shown before, and Bakura was left unable to defend himself from all of their attacks. He grimaced and tries as best he could to fend them off. This wasn't working. He couldn't fight them off both at the same time. He needed a plan.

He ran. It was dangerous showing his back to the two of them, but he didn't have any other choice. He needed to get away from them. The only problem was that there were not a great amount of places available for him to run to inside the warehouse. It was rather large, but the space was still limited. He did the only thing he could think to do and jumped up to the railings that existed overhead.

All around the warehouse were metal pathways built so that a supervisor could have a bird's eye view of the entire building and see what was going on on the ground level. It was one such pathway that Bakura jumped up to. The male immediately followed him up, which was what he had been hoping for. The pathways were narrow, too narrow to hold two people side-by-side. When the female jumped up, she occupied the space behind Bakura, effectively trapping him. She smiled at the other leader. Bakura himself smirked, because he had been hoping this would happen. Before anyone could react, he jumped again and wound up behind the male counterpart of the two leaders.

He struck fast and without waiting for the other two to catch up. Bakura did not waste time weakening his opponent in the same way they had weakened him. He went straight for the kill. He didn't have time to waste on dealing with the two of them anymore. He wanted this over with.

He slashed with his claws at the male's neck. The male had turned around just in time to register a dim shock on his face before his head fell away from his body. It landed with a wet "plop!" on the ground level. The body slid down to the floor and rested almost peacefully against one of the railings. The female looked upon it in shock.

"You…" she said. Her voice lurched unsteadily, and for a moment Bakura thought she was going to burst out in tears. When she looked up at him, he expected to see them on her face. But there were no tears. There was only an unmistakable fury in her countenance. Her eyes burned brightly and angrily.

"YOU!" she raged. She advanced upon him and Bakura prepared himself to counter her attack. But she got no further than just a few feet. At that exact moment a shot rang out, and a bullet hit her directly in the head. Bakura stared as her face went blank and she too fell to the ground. She fell, slumped in front of the railings like the male.

"Bring her down here. Nice and slow. And don't even think about trying anything funny," a voice commanded. Bakura looked. On the ground floor was a blonde woman dressed in some b=purple leather outfit. She was staring up at him from behind a silver pistol and smiling cockily. Bakura bent down slowly and picked up the body of the dead female vampire. He held her in his arms and jumped gracefully down to the ground level where he placed her. Then he backed away, ever aware of the gun that was still aimed at his head.

"Good. You stay right there. You try anything, and I won't hesitate to shoot you like I did her," the woman warned. Bakura shrugged casually and took another step back as the woman came forward. He kept his appearance calm and unworried on the outside, but inwardly he was weary. He had no idea where this human had come from, or what she was meaning to do here. But he figured that it would be no good.

The woman placed her gun carefully on the ground beside her, then climbed atop the body of the dead female. She brought out a huge knife from a sheath strapped to her thigh. She made quick work of the task in front of her and easily sawed through the bone and gristle that connected the head to the body. Bakura watched her with interest. She obviously knew what she was doing, and he could only assume that this meant bad news for him.

"All right. And now it's time to deal with you," the woman grinned when she had finished her task. She had the gun pointed in front of her again. Bakura wondered if he should have tried to make a run for it earlier, when she'd been occupied. He decided that it didn't matter either way. Regardless of his decision he likely would have been shot.

Of course that didn't mean he was going to just stand here and let the broad kill him. He wasn't about to let his six hundred years of life end like this. And a second later as he heard footsteps running towards the two of them, he knew that it wouldn't. He allowed himself a smirk. The woman with the gun didn't even bat an eyelash, though her own good mood did lesson some. Neither did anything until Marik came in on the scene. Both of the blonde's wrists were bleeding, and even though he hadn't run a great distance to reach them, he was out of breath and harried.

"Mai!" he uttered sharply. Bakura looked at him, but he was looking at the woman with the gun. "Put the gun down. Now." The woman did not do this. She cast a sideways look at him.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Marik. I was planning on getting you down after I dealt with this one here, but I see that's no longer needed," the woman, Mai, said. Bakura watched the interactions between the two of them with interest. How they knew one another he did not know, but he was beginning to figure things out.

"Drop the gun. You don't need to worry about him. He's okay. He came here to save me," Marik said calmly. Now Mai reacted to his words. She put the gun down and spun around to face Marik, leaving her back wide open. Bakura noticed this of course and planned to take advantage of it, but Marik sent him on acidic look that kept him in place.

"'Save you', Marik? Were you watching a completely different fight than I was? He's a vampire!" Mai said.

"Yes, he is," Marik said. "I've known what he is for a few months now, and he's never once done anything to harm me. He's not dangerous to humans. He feeds off animals. And he's my friend." Mai laughed, though the sound was not happy at all.

"All vampires are dangerous. And it's our job as hunters to eliminate them," Mai uttered solemnly. And then in an instant she had raised her gun and directed it once more level with Bakura's head. Marik's eyes widened a fraction and he took a minute step forward, but otherwise betrayed nothing.

"Drop the gun, Mai!" he said.

"Maybe you should as he says," Bakura advised. Mai's violet eyes were instantly locked with his.

"You keep your mouth shut, leech," she said. She cocked the gun and Marik took another step forward, bringing Mai's attention back to him.

"Stay there, Marik. I don't know what spell this bastard has put you under, but I'm going to end it," she said.

"It's not a spell! Don't shoot him! Put the damn gun down!" Marik yelled. All of his false calm had disappeared. His face was strained and worried. It didn't matter. Mai turned away from Marik to face Bakura. She smiled. And then she released the trigger of the gun.

The force of the bullet entering his brain was strong enough to knock him down to the ground. He felt both shocked and amazed that he had actually been shot. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way. He wondered if he should have ran the moment he thought she was going to shoot him. Too late now. Then the bullet traveled far enough into his brain that nothing else mattered anymore.

00000

Some time later, Malik returned back to his room and checked his phone. He listened to the voicemail he had received with mounting anger. When it finished he snapped the phone in two.

* * *

Dun dun, cliffhanger, wheee~! So some short things to say, because I want to go to bed. First, I suck at flashbacks. Hence my terrible way of beginning the one in this chapter. Second, I did not do my research when I decided to make Bakura and Ryou be six hundred years old. Had I done so, I would have found out that they would have been alive in the 1400s in England. Which was a TERRIBLE century. TERRIBLE. OF ALL THE ONES TO HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT, WHY THE 1400s? Given that, I'm sure what I've written is not historically accurate. But I don't care that much. Lastly, my fight scene is fail. I used to be so good at writing them when I was a young'un... Everything I wrote was freaking fight scene after fight scene. Alas, that skill has died.

Other random bits of info~~~! Did I mention in this fic that I got a badass tattoo of the Eye of Horus on my wrist? Because I did. Tomorrow I'm getting a tattoo of a cat on my foot. Because I like cats. A lot. No one needed to know this at all. I'm also twenty now, which is weird, because I'm no longer a teenager and I feel like I still should be. It's almost sad. Also completely random, I have a blog! The link to it is on my profile. I have not updated it since November when I was doing NaNoWriMo, but I will do so soon. I'll mostly be talking about my fanfiction and original fiction, so if anyone is interested or has time to kill, check it out!

Other than that, hoped you liked the chapter! How was the Deathshipping? X3 We'll be getting more of it in the last two chapters too, so don't worry! Like I said, it IS coming, just very slowly. Remember to review! Thanks!


	15. Expositions

Hi. Trying to make this quick because I literally have to get ready for work in ten minutes. So, short chapter this time, but it was up suuper fast! Not a lot really happens in this chapter so it's kind of boring, but hey, it's the second to last one! And there's some action at the end of it, so that's cool and all. Okay, so let's get to it!

EDIT!: Back from work now, and apparently the chapter didn't upload? Trying to put it online again now, so hopefully it'll work this time!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

* * *

It was one of the worst times Marik had had. Only one other stood out in his mind as being more awful than this, and it wasn't really something he liked to think about.

As a matter of fact, this all was getting pretty damn close to being just as bad as the other occasion. It had started with all that crap with Gourou and Mai, and then had continued on to all the drama with Bakura and Ryou, and now there was this. Just one thing to deal with after another, without any chance to rest after any of it. And it wasn't anywhere close to being done yet. This was all leading up to something big, he was positive of that, if nothing else.

And the worst thing about the situation he was in now was that Marik _knew_ better. He knew better than to let his guard drop as much as he had, and yet he'd still done it and gotten himself in trouble.

As far as he could tell, it was morning. He had no idea where he was. He had woken up bound and gagged on the floor. He'd taken a moment to try and figure out his surroundings, but everything around him was pitch black. Then he'd tried escaping from the restraints keeping him in place, but that didn't last a very long time before his plan was found out and stopped. After that there were hands all over him, touching him and pawing at him and inspecting him. He froze when they went near his back and then tried fighting even more ferociously, all of this reminding him too much of another time. But his struggles did not help, and they wrenched his shirt up and discovered what he'd tried for so long to hide.

The marking excited them, though Marik could by no means imagine why. But now they were talking and telling him things and asking him questions and he was able to get a better read on his situation. There were three of them, two males and one female, and they seemed content to let him lie there on the floor as long as he didn't try to get away. That fact by itself provoked some interesting questions about who they were. It means that either they just weren't hungry, or they were the same as the two he'd allowed Mai to kill earlier. Either way, they were waiting for something specific, and Marik could only wait along with them.

When what he assumed to be morning came, the three of them fell silent. Their nervous energy was still drumming down all over the place even in their silence, and so when one of them finally moved and picked Marik off the floor in order to fix him up on some sort of hook, it only made the thick tension even more suffocating. And then Bakura came bursting in and Marik saw that he was in the same warehouse from before. Things were suddenly starting to make sense.

He was not happy to see Bakura, and so he glared at the teen through the entire conversation that he had with the vampires and hoped that his message got through. The revealing of his biggest secret did not help any. He did not want Bakura to see his back. He'd assumed that maybe at some point in time he would have had to show him, but he hadn't wanted it to be so soon. And he hadn't wanted to hear any of the crap that came after.

They had smelled Bakura on him immediately. It was the scent coming from the mark Bakura had given him, the mark that Ryou had told him was to let others know that someone was "watching over him." He learned from them that that was a lie. His mouth had been taped shit for most of the time they'd had him, so they hadn't known that he'd been given a different meaning behind the marking. Even if he had been able to talk, Marik would not have told them what he thought the mark was meant to mean. He and his family had never learned about this aspect of vampire customs, but hearing the truth made him realize just how stupid he'd been about a lot of things of late. Just because he met two vampires who appeared better than the rest did not mean that they were in all aspects.

The mark was not a way of showing that someone was watching over him, but rather served as a way to tell others that he was a slave to someone else. A vampire that bore the mark and scent of another was subservient to the one who had marked them. The mark was a permanent thing that existed as long as the vampire who had given it still did. A marked vampire was usually weaker than the others, looked down upon by those unmarked, bound to an owner, and usually forever kept under the threat of death. A marked human was even worse. They too existed in a state of servitude and were kept alive for as long as they were useful in sating their owner's desires.

Marik hadn't believed that it meant such a thing for a long time, but with enough hours of sitting in the dark and listening to three vampires taunt him for failing his job as hunter and becoming the plaything of the creature he was supposed to hunt, he'd begun to start believing in it. And of course the taunting was worse because of the scar. They thought that Bakura had carved that into his skin as well. Marik didn't tell them otherwise. He didn't tell them jack shit. He lied there in the dark and simmered in his growing anger both at himself and Bakura and the vampires and the asshole that had done this to him and tried not thinking about the similarities between the situation and this one.

And then Bakura came and while he was still furious about learning the truth behind the bite he'd been given, he was also sort of hoping to hear something that would tell him that the other three were wrong about the mark. But Bakura didn't say anything like that at all. He went along with exactly what they said and suggested the same thing himself, that Marik was some kind of slave or possession and that he belonged to Bakura and no one else.

Marik paid as much attention to the battle raging as he would while also working to free himself. When he noticed Bakura was setting himself up to be trapped, his heart gave a little lurch and betrayed him before he could stop the call that came from his lips. When he was safe and had disappeared somewhere with the two remaining vamps, Marik went back to trying to get himself free so that could do something more than just dangle overhead uselessly. And then the warehouse door opened again, but this time in walked Mai.

Marik froze. He was all too aware of how awful this situation was becoming. Mai hadn't seen him just yet; she was still checking out her surroundings right now. But she would soon. After all, there was only so much a guy could hide while still affixed to a giant hook.

When she finally did notice his presence there, quite a look of shock reached her face. She took a few steps toward Marik and looked like she was going to help him out, but then something caught her eye. She gave one last lingering gaze to Marik, then headed to her left. Marik swore and worked at the rope around her remaining wrist just a bit faster.

He had no clue how much Mai had seen or heard, but the chances that this wouldn't all be fucked to shit were slowly slipping down the goddammit drain. He seriously doubted Mai would have just charged in to a place she _knew_ vampires were using _without_ having done some reckoning first. Attacking without thinking wasn't her style. She might know that the three vamps had taken him and she might not. Either way, there was pretty much no chance she didn't know what Bakura was.

He finally got the damn rope off and dropped down from the hook. The moment his feet hit the ground, Marik sped off as fast as he could in the direction Mai had headed. He found them quickly. Both remaining vampires were dead. And Mai was staring down Bakura with a gun in her hand. All the shit he'd feared happening was hitting the fan at astonishing rates.

"Mai!" he called out sharply. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Bakura gazed at him for a moment, but he could not be concerned with that. Mai was ignoring him. She had her eye and gun both on the vampire in front of her.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Marik. I was planning on getting you down after I dealt with this one here, but I see that's no longer needed."

"Drop the gun. You don't need to worry about him. He'd okay. He came here to save me." He had to convince Mai. He would explain everything if he needed to. If it would keep Mai from killing Bakura right here on the spot. He could not have picked a more difficult opponent to face.

"'Save you', Marik? Were you watching a completely different fight than I was? He's a vampire!" Mai was suddenly furious. He was losing this battle. If he didn't get it under his control again soon, it wouldn't matter.

"Yes, he is. I've known what he is for a few months now, and he'd never done anything to harm me. He's not dangerous to humans. He feeds off animals. And he's my friend," Marik said. He hadn't noticed it before, but his hands were shaking. He stared hard at Mai and willed her to understand. She laughed.

"All vampires are dangerous. And it's our job as hunters to eliminate them," she said. She spun around and brought the gun up again to Bakura's head.

"Drop the gun, Mai!" Marik shouted. His heart hammered noisily in his chest.

"Maybe you should do as he says," Bakura said, and Marik wished he could tell him to shut up. He was not doing himself any favors by butting in.

"Keep your mouth shut, leech," Mai said. Marik heard the click of the gun being cocked. He took a step forward without meaning to.

"Stay there, Marik. I don't know what spell this bastard has put you under, but I'm going to end it." He knew by her voice then that there was nothing stopping her from killing him.

"It's not a spell! Don't shoot him! Put the damn gun down!" Marik screamed. It didn't matter. Mai released the trigger and the bullet hit Bakura in the forehead. His face registered a dim look of shock, and then he was falling to the ground.

Something in Marik snapped the moment he heard the sound of the gun going off. Of course by that time it was already too late. But he charged at Mai. He slammed into her and sent the gun flying out of her hands. It skid across the floor. It came to rest by Bakura's body. Marik retrieved the weapon. He did not look down at Bakura. He could not.

He held the gun down at Mai. He was furious and shaking and he could not remember having felt this way before.

"What did you do?" he chocked out. When Mai made to answer him he screamed at her.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

He brandished the gun in front of him and it shook so much in his hand he thought it would fall. He brought his other hand up and grabbed onto it tight.

"I shot him. That's what we're supposed to do, Marik," Mai said lowly.

"NO!" Marik screamed. His voice cracked and broke. "I told you not to! I told you he was good!"

"There's no such thing, Marik! You should know that! Look at what they did to you and your brother!"

Marik yelled at her. He didn't need to be told what they had done. He'd already been reminded of it several times. He knew everything that she would say to him. His parents had said the same things before vampires had killed them. Isis and Rishid had told him the very words. Malik repeated them as well. He knew. Even Bakura had lied to him. He knew well enough.

His eyes narrowed when he raised the gun to point at Mai's heart. His head was a mess. Thoughts were suffocating him and the words from all his family and everyone he'd ever known were trying to get through to him. He hurt too. This was how it was always going to be. No one would understand. They would all want blood. He pulled the trigger once and shot Mai. Mai had saved him once, when he'd been a kid. Mai had saved him and Malik when they'd been young and terrified and their backs had been bleeding and no one else had found them. Mai had been a hunter. That was how they'd gotten to know her. She looked a lot younger than she really was. He shot her again. His thoughts were a mess but he was thinking clearly about this. He emptied the four bullets Mai had had in her gun after shooting the female vampire and Bakura into her body. He let the gun drop. She looked like a mess.

For a while Marik stood there and looked at what he'd done. Then his brain jump-started and he ran over to Bakura. He knelt down beside the body and began to frantically search it for a pulse before he remembered that there would not be one and almost laughed.

"Bakura," he called. He rustled the body and hoped for some kind of response. He was beginning to feel queasy. The bodies of Mai and the other vampires were still just lying around. "Bakura1" There was no response. He began dragging the other out of the warehouse. It was hard, but he didn't want to be inside anymore.

When he got them both outside, he got on his hands and knees in front of Bakura's still body and began to shout the vampire's name. He banged on his chest and he shook him. He inspected the wound in Bakura's head. It was small, precise, and clean. A thin rivulet of blood had dripped from the bullet hole. He had no way of knowing how far past Bakura's skull it had traveled, or if it had broken upon impact or still remained in one piece.

Beneath the hole and blood, Bakura's eyes opened up, every bit as red as the blood itself. Marik had been hoping for this, but he still jumped a bit when it happened. Bakura began convulsing on the ground. His eyes shut tightly against the pain and he curled into a fetal ball. The tremors began to subside, then stopped completely. He uncurled himself slowly and sat up, stretching limbs and opening and closing fingers as he did. Testing them. To see if all the connections were still there and if they still worked.

"Bitch! I can't believe she actually shot me!" Bakura swore.

"I shot her," Marik said blankly. Bakura looked up at him and something strange passed over his features. "I killed her. She's in there with the other bodies. I had to. If I didn't, she would have killed you."

Bakura seemed to ignore this. He slowly got to his feet, stumbling as he did so. "We need to get out of this place. We can't be here any longer. Stay here. I'm calling Ryou."

Bakura left. He walked a few paces away, slowly and steadily, with a look of intense concentration on his face. Trying not to fall over. Marik thought that maybe he should find this comical. Instead he found Bakura's words funny, though he couldn't remember how to smile. "Stay here." Where would he go, really? He still hadn't managed to pick himself off the ground, and he wasn't the one whose body had restarted.

Bakura finished his call in a matter of minutes and returned back to find Marik still sitting in the same area, looking at the spot on the ground where Bakura had been lying. There was a small, shining drop of blood there. It was fascinating.

"Ryou said he'll be here in a few minutes. We should probably try getting as far away from this building as we can before then. You listening?" Bakura asked. "Hey!" Marik said nothing. Bakura bent down in front of him. "Come on, Marik, I don't need you breaking to pieces on me now, okay?"

"You were just shot," Marik said. Bakura seemed surprised by this response.

"That's what's got you like this? I'm fine, you can see that!"

"I know." He'd always known, actually. Vampires had to be killed in very specific ways. Taking a bullet to the brain wasn't good enough. It killed them, but only for so long. The head had to be severed from the body for the brain to truly shut down and cease working. If it wasn't, the brain would restart itself and the vampire would be every bit as alive as it was before. That's what happened to Bakura. Bullet entered, caused the brain to shut the body down. Brain worked to reconnect neurons severed by the path of the bullet and fire up synapses again and work around the dead area where the bullet rested, until the body could forcibly remove it. Body reanimated itself. Everything was fine. Bakura still had his head. Things were good.

But they really weren't. He couldn't get the image of Bakura, slack-faced and unaware with a hole in his head and falling out of his mind. Even then he'd known that if he could stop Mai from taking the confrontation any further, Bakura would be fine. But it hadn't felt like it. It had felt like he'd watched Bakura die. His thoughts and logic hadn't reached him. He'd killed Mai. He hated Bakura for putting that mark on him. The mark that branded him as ugly and owned every bit as much as the scar on his back already did. Although he'd trusted Bakura. The Bakura whom was not dead. The Bakura who was up and walking around and looking at him curiously and offering him a hand.

Marik took the offered hand and Bakura hauled him to his feet. They started to walk together in a silence that was somehow more oppressive and consuming than all other silences between them. For Bakura because he did not know what had happened. For Marik because he did not know how he could explain his thoughts to anyone. He was not okay.

"So just what the hell happened back there anyways?" Bakura asked, breaking the silence. His voice didn't make it any better. Marik did not look at him, or anything other than the pavement in front of his feet. It was damp. It had rained. Maybe it would turn to ice.

"You tell me. They took me. I don't have a clear idea," he said.

"They were in the woods. You heard them, right? They saw us in the woods and they grabbed you when I dropped you off. There were more of them, but your family killed them, didn't they? They were trying to use you as a bargaining chip to escape," Bakura said. Shrugged. Remained silent. Marik realized it was his turn to continue the conversation.

"They were Mai's kills. The-the woman you saw back there. She doesn't live here. In Domino. She came because she thought there were vampires in the area. But there weren't any bodies showing up. I thought she was here hunting you and Ryou," Marik explained. Bakura nodded slowly. Marik knew he wasn't making any sense. He also knew that he had talked about Mai in the present tense, like—like she was still alive. The thought put a lurch in his step. He tried again.

"Mai was hunting them. She asked Malik to help her out, and that was it. I tried to keep tabs on their information, but I wasn't part of the team, so there wasn't a lot I knew about. They must have figured out that the vampires were nesting here and had been snooping around. The day you and Ryou came over and met Natalie, well I ran into them then. The vampires. Two of them. They took Natalie when she left the house and brought her here. They tried doing the same thing, holding Natalie hostage to get me to leave them alone. I think they thought I was my brother. Mai had been in the area then, most likely keeping an eye out for them, and she came in and killed the vampires and rescued Natalie. The same thing must have happened now. Mai knew that there were more than just the two of them, so she kept an eye on the warehouse. When she checked on it today, she saw me and came to help." _And then I killed her._

"Bad luck," Bakura muttered.

"What?" Marik asked. He looked up at Bakura for the first time since they had started walking.

"Bad luck," Bakura repeated. "That any of this happened. Everyone was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Suddenly Marik wanted to kill him himself. Bad luck. His rage was coming back. He didn't feel so empty. His rage from when he'd learned Bakura had used him and branded him as some kind of pet. His rage that had ignited when he'd thought Bakura was dead. His rage that killed Mai. All of it came down to bad luck. Bad luck Mai had come into town. Bad luck that she and Malik had snooped so thoroughly that five harmless vampires had been forced to take action. Bad luck that they were all dead. Now he really felt like laughing.

"Your back. What happened to your back? Who did that?" Bakura asked.

Laughter died. Marik looked at the ground. His back hurt. He didn't want to talk about it.

"Marik?" Bakura asked. He sounded somewhat concerned.

Marik didn't get to answer the question. A car horn honked and both boys raised their heads, ready to run if need by. They did not need to. Ryou drove the car. He had arrived quickly, just like he'd said he would. Marik wondered just how badly he must have been speeding to get here when he did. He did not ask the question. He might have any other time, but now it sounded frivolous and a waste of breath. He got into the back seat of the car and Bakura in the passenger. He told Ryou to drive.

Ryou drove. He did not ask any questions, though Marik was sure he would have liked to. Bakura did not ask any more questions about his back, though Marik knew that he wanted to. The two twins did not talk at all during the car ride, though he was sure they were still conversing together in some manner. Several times he caught two separate pairs of chocolate brown looking at him in the rearview mirror. He didn't care. He might have before, but now he just stared out the window. He pictured blood in his head.

The car pulled into its designated parking spot in the same heavy silence it had picked them up in. Ryou killed the engine and let them both into the house. Marik did not know why he was here instead of his own house, but there seemed to be some unspoken agreement between the other two that they wanted him here. He went along with it. He was too damn tired to care, and seeing his siblings would only confuse him more. He would have to tell them something. He'd been missing for almost a full day now. They would be worried. They would want to know why Mai never showed up. They would want to know why there were bodies strewn all over the place.

"What happened?" Ryou asked. He looked at them both pointedly.

"A lot of things," Bakura said, and then began to explain.

Marik sat on the small couch in the living room while Bakura explained to Ryou. He and Bakura had had sex on this couch. He clenched the fabric between his fists and tried to remember what it felt like to be sure of something and not so damn confused. He didn't hate Bakura then. He didn't hate Bakura now, but it seemed harder to remember that.

Ryou had been spending the entire day with Malik. Ryou had no idea of anything. Marik watched as his face moved from concerned and vaguely confused to flat out terrified. It was actually amusing to watch. Ryou always made faces like that. He got upset or startled so easily. Marik wondered how it was that he was able to tolerate Malik's mood swings without freaking out all the time.

"Let me see it," Ryou demanded. For a while Marik did not know what Ryou was talking about. He assumed he wanted to see his back, but that made no sense. Bakura had not mentioned that. Still, he tensed at the words, and when he understood that it was Bakura's wound he wanted to see, Marik did not relax any.

Bakura moved his bangs away from his face to reveal the bullet hole. He was standing with his back to Marik, obscuring the wound from view. He was okay with that. He'd seen how the hole had come to be there. He'd stood by and tried and still watched Mai pull the trigger. He hadn't been able to do anything at all except maybe prevent Bakura from completely winding up dead. He probably would have been able to do that himself, anyways. So when he recognized the same look of horror on Ryou's face that had also found his, he didn't need to see it to know how bad the wound must still look. He had enough with picturing it happening in his mind.

"Oh Bakura… I'm so sorry! I should have been there to help! I should have known something was wrong when Malik said Marik hadn't come home! I-I wasn't thinking that anything bad could have happened! And you got hurt because of it! You could have been killed!" Ryou exclaimed.

"It's not a big deal, Ryou. I'm fine," Bakura said. Marik could just picture him shrugging, trying to alleviate Ryou's worries. The hole would be covered up again. Suddenly he was angry.

"You were shot! You could have died, Bakura! How is that not a big deal?"

"Ryou…"

"It needs to be covered. It can't just stay out in the open like that, you'll get an infection, or, or, something! And it's still bleeding!"

"Ryou, it's fine, I'm telling you. I can't even feel it anymore!"

Bakura was concerned. About Ryou. Of course he would be. Ryou was his brother. He cared a lot about Ryou, even if he didn't always act like it. It was obvious in his actions. Like befriending him because he'd helped Ryou. Like continuing to be his friend even after learning Marik and his family were hunters, at Ryou's insistence. Like talking to Ryou on the phone that time Bakura had ran away, and Marik had had to go on a hunt. Like the constant worry and protection Bakura offered Ryou. Like the connection the two of them had, one that went beyond just being twins. Like the way Bakura had turned Ryou into a vampire even though it was dangerous. Bakura they hadn't wanted to be apart, no matter what.

"I don't care. It still needs to be taken care of. I'm going to the store to pick up some bandaged."

"Ryou, it's fine! It doesn't need bandaging! The bullet will just come out that way anyways."

He was furious, suddenly. Again and again, the way he was back in the warehouse. Now he was burning with a black jealousy. Ryou and Bakura cared so damn much. Because they were brothers. Because they had gone through _so much_ together. And now Ryou was worried and Bakura was just showering him with attention, and Marik was left sitting here on this goddamn irritating couch and no one even noticed that he was _not fucking okay!_ Oh, but it was okay, because he was just a slave. He didn't matter.

"I'll go buy the damn bandages," Marik snarled. He pushed himself angrily off the couch and was satisfied with the surprised looks he got from both brothers. Had forgotten he was even fucking here, no doubt.

"I'll go too," Bakura volunteered quickly. Marik didn't even bother to hide his scowl. He went to the door and waited for Bakura to finish up with his brother. He would have just left if he'd thought Bakura wouldn't have been able to catch up with him.

"Just make sure to be careful then! Don't let anyone see that injury!" Ryou called after them.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We'll be back soon. Don't get yourself all bent out of shape any further. Things are fine now," Bakura said with a smirk aimed in his brother's direction. Ryou gave a smile of his own in response. Marik stomped out of the door angrily.

For a while things were okay. He simmered in his anger, but it was better than thinking about Mai. He didn't care anymore about trying to find out if what the other vampires had told him about the mark was true or not. Even if it wasn't he was furious. Then Bakura broke the silence they'd been talking in with questions about his back. Marik nearly froze in his tracks. He should have seen it coming, now that Bakura had finally gotten him alone again.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Marik bit out harshly.

"Yeah, I realized that," Bakura said. He sounded a bit angry himself. "Why else would you have gone through such measures to make sure I didn't find out about it? So much for telling each other shit, right?" Marik bristled at the remark.

"Yeah, so much," he agreed bitterly, causing Bakura to look at him suspiciously. As if he didn't know what the problem was. But Marik calmed himself, or at least did as much as he could. He unclenched his fists and stared straight ahead at the empty road. His back burned under his shirt and each and every scar reminded him of exactly when and how it was carved, and how much he'd cried and it had hurt when he'd gotten them.

"If you were to look at Malik's back, you would see the exact same scars. We got them both when we were ten. Out father was still alive back then. He was chasing after a vampire, an old one. Probably had been alive for longer than you and Ryou, though I can't say for sure. I was young then. To me, my father was old. But he'd been alive for a long time, and he'd gone insane because of it.

"We were both there with our father the day he finally tracked the vampire down and located him. He was training us. Our mother was dead by then. Vamps killed her a little after giving birth to the two of us. Isis always said she was the kindest person in the world. If she'd been alive she would have never let us go with him that day. But she wasn't, and we were supposed to be learning how to kill them, so when the vamp got the best of our father, he had Malik and I to deal with.

"We tried attacking him, but we were only ten. We didn't even get close to him. We thought as long as we stayed in the sun we would be okay, but he went and grabbed us and just ignored the burns he got. We thought he would drink our blood and kill us right away, but he didn't. He flew off with us somewhere far away from where he left our father. He didn't always evade the sun, so there were times we thought he would just burst into flames and we'd fall to the ground and be dead.

"He took us to some cave I think he'd been living in. There were weird patterns and designs on every inch of the walls. Some were piled on top of one another until it all just looked like a bunch of scribbling. None of it made any sense. I don't know if even he knew what he was doing with all of it anymore. He was insane."

Marik paused. Bakura was not looking his way, but he didn't need to be. Marik knew he was listening. Probably trying to picture the cave, picture the designs. Marik didn't need to. Every morning he saw them in the mirror. They were his scars; the "gift" the vampire had said he was giving both him and Malik. He wondered if Bakura and Ryou had ever met the man who'd done it.

"We tried escaping from him, but he watched us at all times. Even if we had been able to get away, we wouldn't have known where to go. We had no clue where we were. He kept us there for four days. We thought he was just waiting until he got hungry, and then he was going to bite us. By that point we almost didn't care. He gave us water, but we didn't have any food. We were hungry and scared. Back then Malik was the most afraid out of the two of us. He kept asking when father or Rishid or Isis were going to find us and save us, and there was nothing I could tell him. When the vampire took out the knife, I was almost glad to see it. But he didn't use it to cut our necks like I thought he meant to."

He could remember the knife. Long and sharp and wicked. It had looked like the same knife their father had used to gut things with. Malik had tried to run away when he saw it. It hadn't worked. Now Marik was beginning to remember the screams and the blood.

"He grabbed Malik first. He called out for me and begged me to help him, but I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. So he forced Malik down to the ground and used the knife to cut those same patterns into his back. Malik passed out before it was done, which was probably for the best. When he was satisfied with his work he put some kind of salve on Malik's back and wrapped him up. Then he stared on me."

Malik said he was lucky to have gone second. That way the vamp knew exactly what he was doing and didn't need to keep pausing to think about where the next cut should be. Marik disagreed. He would have much rather gone first. Going second meant that he'd had to watch the entire time and listen to Malik's screams. It meant that he knew it was going to be agonizing when it was his turn. And the entire time there'd been nothing he could do to protect either himself or his little brother. Malik hadn't been the same after it. Neither had he, really.

"After that it took the rest of the week for anyone to find us. That was how we met Mai. It wasn't our father or Isis or Rishid who finally found where we were and got us out of there. It was Mai. She killed the vampire and found out who we were and got us back to our family." And now she was dead. "That's it. Nothing more to say about it."

"Marik," Bakura started. Marik cut him off.

"Oh look, we're at the store already." He disappeared inside of the sliding doors and headed down the first aisle he came across. Unfortunately, Bakura caught up with him fairly quickly. This time Marik interrupted before Bakura had a chance to even open his mouth.

"I don't care about anything you have to say. So don't bother saying anything at all. I doubt there even _is_ anything to say, and I don't need any feel good shit. We're here for bandages and that's it," Marik hissed. Bakura looked at him sharply and then shrugged. He turned and walked off in the direction of the aisle with the pharmaceuticals. Marik followed and grabbed a first-aid kit when they passed.

Bakura paid for the kit and they walked back to the house without a word passing between them. This was the silence Marik had been looking for to begin with. This was the most solitude he would hope to get with all of this mess. Ideally, it would soon all be over. Gourou was taken care of. The animal-feeding vampires were dead. Mai had followed them. Natalie was gone. Bakura and Ryou were safe. And he was some vampire's lowly slave. Everything right in the world. The only problem he could think of were the bodies. Even those he did not care much about. The warehouse they'd fought in was being used by someone. Morning would come and either the bodies would have been discovered and it would be on the news, or he would travel back to the warehouse for clean up duty. It was sloppy work leaving them where they were now, especially with the one of them being his own victim, but he couldn't be bothered working up the energy to care. How had shit soured so quickly? If there _were_ found, he would just accept the repercussions. At least then there wouldn't be any more surprises.

"What is your bike doing here?" Bakura asked. Marik frowned. He'd been so caught up in his own thoughts he had completely disregarded Bakura. But yes, there in front of the door to the twin's house was his bike, parked haphazardly and neglected. Bakura marched straight to the door while Marik ran a hand over the bike's metal surface. It was cold out, but the engine was still hot.

All at once Marik knew exactly what he would find inside the house, what _Bakura_ would find inside the house. His eyes widened when he heard Bakura's strangled cry of Ryou's name, and he flew to the door. He'd know that the ride wasn't over yet, but he had not once sat down and thought that this would happen.

00000

Malik stared at the broken phone. For a while he didn't want to acknowledge what he'd just heard. Then he realized that was stupid. His fists clenched and before he had even thought about the action, his arm had swung out and knocked everything off his drawer. There had been a cup up there, and watching the broken shards of it calmed him enough to realize that he had a job to do. He grabbed the things the reliable side of his mind told him he would need and then stormed out of the house. Isis asked him something, something about where he was going, about Marik…

(_Marik_!)

He needed something. A way to get him where he needed to be.

_The bike._

Marik's bike. Marik's _new_ bike. How had he gotten it, anyways? Didn't matter. Malik was taking it. He had somewhere he needed to be. But first he needed the keys. He found them in his pocket. Must have already grabbed them. He started the bike and was off. He knew exactly where he was going. He had made his first visit there just today. Lucky.

("Malik, kid, where are you? I could really use your help right now! Maybe I should have taken up Rishid's offer of help instead. I'll keep this in mind next time! Fuck, I'm babbling. Can you get to the warehouse as soon as you get this message? Our three missing vamps have returned, and they've got a surprise too.")

Oh they had a surprise all right. But Malik was not going to the warehouse. Mai had sent her message about two hours ago. All the fun would be over now. Malik had a different destination in mind.

("They've got your brother here. I can't figure out why, maybe they thought he was you? Though he was here when I killed the other two, so maybe it was him they were aiming for. He's fine, by the way. The vamps are all busy talking to this guy who walked in a bit ago. He seems to know your brother. Maybe you know him? He's got stark white hair. I'm not sure yet, but I think… oh, they're fighting now… Yeap, he's a vamp too.")

Malik was going to pay the asshole's brother a visit. Because if one was a dirty, rotten leech, then the other was one as well. A leech and a liar! He'd said things, such nice things, earlier today. Malik had almost made the mistake of allowing him to get closer. But now he knew the truth. He knew what Ryou really was. And all the lies sweet little Ryou had uttered earlier today were just distractions to keep him from trying to find his brother and warn him of what they were.

("I'll wait a little bit longer to give you a chance to show, get some more information. If you aren't here in ten, I'm going in myself. See ya, brat.")

Mai would have finished by now. The asshole would have been taken care of. But there was still the brother, the one Mai didn't know about. There was still something he would be able to do here, and he intended to take care of it.

He pulled into the driveway and hopped off the bike. The house was familiar—he had just walked Ryou to it earlier. But now the circumstances were different. Now he would not allow himself to be strung along like some fool. When Ryou opened the door, he did not hesitate. Not to notice the way Ryou's face looked worried before he noticed whom it was and the look instead became happy. Not to think about how trusting Ryou was, how nice it would be to be that trusting, to be happy to see the man who would be here to murder you. He didn't hesitate; when Ryou opened the door he brought out his knife and instantly slid it across the boy's throat.

The effect of the Dead Man's Blood coating the blade was instant. Ryou stumbled against the wall as his body began to stop moving, one hand frozen on its way to his throat. Malik caught him before he could slide down to the floor and held him against the wall. Ryou's eyes were wide, but they were not afraid. They were never afraid. The boy did not fear him.

"You can drop the disguise now. I know what you are," Malik hissed.

"What?" Ryou questioned. Malik snarled and slide the blade of his knife down Ryou's cheek. He watched as the blood rolled. He would have licked it if he didn't know of the disease it contained.

"Don't play games with me, Ryou. I know what you and your brother are. I figured it out. So why don't you let your true colors show, hmmm?" Ryou's eyes changed from chocolate to blood red, and for a moment Malik forgot his fiery anger at the boy's deception in his delight.

"Goooood," he crooned. "You know what I am, don't you?"

"I do," Ryou answered.

"Then you know that I'm gonna kill you, right? You know, but you didn't fight against me. You saw my attack coming, didn't you? But you didn't move. Is it because you liiike meeee? Do you, Ryou?"

"Yes," Ryou answered, and Malik laughed. He leaned in close to Ryou and ran his tongue up the side of the boy's neck, away from the blood. Though his body could not move, Malik felt his tremor. Their bodies were pressed up tight to one another. He liked the sensation of it, so he did it again, and again. Ryou made a strange whimper underneath him, and Malik stopped his actions long enough to cock his head and look at the other. Ryou's eyes were closed and his cheeks were flushed. That would not do. He wanted those eyes open, and on him.

"Look at me," he commanded, and Ryou did just that. "What kind of messed up are you, to be getting turned on by this. I'm going to kill you. I'm not lying this time. This time, I know what you are. You know that I'm not lying. But you still aren't scared. What's wrong with you?"

Ryou did not say anything. That was good. Malik did not want him to answer. An answer would ruin it. And right now he was enjoying himself. He leaned in and teased at Ryou's neck again. He wanted to leave a mark there. He would leave marks all over the place with his knife before he was done, but he wanted this one to be special. This would be the mark that would feel the best and sting the most, because Ryou wanted him so bad. It was all evident to Malik now. It should have been earlier, but he was not used to people wanting him. Not like this. Before it had always been upfront and honest want and lust, but Ryou had coated it in friendship. But it came down to want all the same, but now, after getting to the pure center of it and past all that other shit, Malik understood. He wanted too. He wanted Ryou now because Ryou was powerful in a way but also weak and vulnerable, and Ryou was not afraid of him. Ryou reminded him of Marik, but not the want was much more. He wanted to destroy and kill Ryou. For lying. For being so damn nice and infuriating. For making him angry. For wanting him. He would make Ryou's death special for all of those reasons.

He moved to Ryou's lips and bit them. Ryou made another whimper sound and Malik decided that he liked the noise. He pressed his tongue into Ryou's mouth without waiting for invitation. He was glad that Ryou would still move his lips, because kissing would be no fun otherwise. He ran his tongue over Ryou's teeth and felt their sharpness. Ryou moaned into his mouth and that was when Malik abruptly severed the kiss.

"Now I have to kill you," he told Ryou and prepared his knife. And that was when the asshole burst through the door.

* * *

Okay! So yay short chapter! It felt a little weird writing it, but I don't know if that was because I was intentionally trying to write Marik in a way so he sounds weirded out, or it just kind of came that way. Who knows! I don't have time to complain because I need to leave! So one more thing though, hope the Deathshipping was good for people! It felt a little forced to me, but who really knows. I wrote half of this chapter in like one sitting so it all sounds kind of hurried because I wanted to get it out so quickly.

Anyways, weigh in, leave a review and tell me what's up, and I'll maybe come back after I get off work and make these AN's a little less random, though I probably won't. Next chapter is the last one! Shit happens! So cool! Okay, review and thanks! (Also I promise my chapter title will be better, because this one is terrible. I literally was like "Okay, super quick, give me a word for lots of explanations happening!" and this is what came out. Although no, next chapter title will probably be equally as horrible. Have I mentioned my failure with titles yet? Also I've got to mention this, but does anyone read Homestuck? Devon's being super nerdy here and getting all spastic and I love the Striders so much. Okay, seriously that's it though, I'm done now! I've got to leave!)


	16. Finishing

Oh my gawd it is here. The final chapter! One small thing to say before we start: there is hate sex in this chapter and some blood. I don't think it's anything too bad, and it eventually becomes nice happy sex, but hey, if that's not your thing, I figured I'd give you all a heads up. If it is your thing, then yay! Also, there's probably a ton of mistakes in this. I did a quick look through to fix stuff up but nothing too serious, so there's bound to be parts where I'll be trying to say the word now and it will come out as not. When I type quickly I make A LOT of mistakes. Just give me a heads up if you spot them so I can go back and fix them!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

* * *

Malik was inches away from killing Ryou.

Shit had gone very, very wrong, and now Malik was fucking inches away from killing Ryou! Shit! He had to do something and fast, but he couldn't think of what because he was _not_ prepared for this, had specifically not thought about this because he'd hoped it would never happen and certainly _not_ like this if it did and of fuck—he was moving.

Marik dashed toward his brother without his knowledge. While his brain was on vacation trying to figure out how Marik could have possibly _known_, his body was exercising all of that training he'd gone through and putting it to good use. His reflexes were sound—when Bakura ran to his own brother, Malik moved out of the way, but Marik was there to catch him. He grabbed onto his brother and while he still didn't know what the fuck he was doing, he knew that he could not let his brother go it he wanted even the _hope_ that this could all turn out well.

"Marik," Malik greeted cordially. He leaned over his shoulder to see him better. "I thought you might have been dead."

Such a simple sentence and it made his stomach roll. Everything was just so wrong. Malik was not supposed to be here. It gave him the chills every time he was around the other two twins because it meant he was that much closer to figuring everything out. He was not supposed to be here knowing perhaps even better than Marik did what was going on, and he was still holding the bloodied knife he'd used to almost decapitate Ryou and he was _smiling_. He didn't think that Marik knew what they were. Either that, or he was ignoring all logic that pointed to Marik knowing and not caring. Malik was expecting him to help. Malik was expecting him to be okay with this.

"Malik…" Marik said weakly.

"_What the fuck did you do to my brother?_" Bakura screeched from across the room. Marik's gaze immediately flew to him and Ryou. His pulse quickened and before anything he saw made sense to him, he feared that he'd been too late and Ryou was dead and there was no chance for him to fix this—

And then he saw that, though paralyzed, Ryou was okay, Ryou was _alive_. Ryou was being held up by Bakura, who was snarling and more angry then any wild animal Marik had ever seen. And again he felt a pang, because Bakura was just so damn protective of his brother. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind because there was no time for them. What he needed to do now was to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Well I was about to slice him up a bit more before you came it," Malik responded off-handedly. Bakura growled murderously.

"I'll kill you," he said. Malik laughed.

"Do it then," he taunted. "If you feel comfortable enough leaving your precious brother there unattended to." Bakura did feel comfortable with this, or too murderous to care. He turned, purposely showing his back to Malik as he situated Ryou in the corner of the room furthest from the hunters and closest to the couch, keeping him somewhat blocked from view. Marik did not know whether this action was spawned from trust in Marik to keep him safe, or some blind confidence, but Malik smiled at it. By the time Bakura turned back around, the muscles in his arms were tensing dangerously. Marik broke out of his stupor and acted.

"Bakura, stand down!" he demanded. Two sets of eyes flashed to him, one furious and the other just curious.

"He nearly killed my brother," Bakura growled.

"I know, but get the fuck back! No one is killing anyone here! Malik, that goes for you too! Calm down!" he yelled. That caught Malik's attention enough to bring it away from Bakura. Now the humor was gone from his face, and he regarded Marik with an indifference that was far from comfortable.

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"What I mean, Malik," Marik said, hoping to god his discomfort didn't show in his tone, "is exactly what I said. I'm not letting you kill anyone here."

"You know what they are?" Malik asked.

"Yes." His brother exploded.

"Then how are you saying such a thing?" Malik demanded. "How are you _protecting them_ when you know what kind of filth they are? They nearly killed you, didn't they?"

"They never did anything to me, Malik!" Marik roared. His twin's eyes narrowed to tiny, slitted diamonds.

"How long have you known?" he asked.

"Since that night the trap went off in our yard," Marik answered truthfully.

"And you've let them live all this time?"

"Yes. They were my friends, Malik. They _are_ my friends. In the entire time I've known them, they haven't once harmed me, or anyone else. They aren't dangerous. They're just trying to live. I'm going to make sure that they're able to, no matter what."

"No matter what…" Malik repeated. For a second he looked broken. Like the Malik who had woken up in that cave eight years ago, covered in blood, back flayed open and irredeemably changed in some manner. Then that Malik was gone, disappeared, and Marik knew probably before his brother did what was going to happen because it already had before.

Malik lunged at him with his hands outstretched, knife he'd been clenching clattering inaudibly to the floor, eyes crazed and set on the person he wanted to kill. Marik dodged the attack before it could even get close. His senses were alive and firing, feeding him a steady stream of information. This was how he hunted, by always knowing where his opponent was and predicting their moves. In hand-to-hand combat, all vampires fought the same. All had the same animalistic instinct and drive, and any fighting techniques were always, always built up from that foundation. If you fought them long enough, they became easy to read. If you fought them beside a partner long enough, the partner also became easy to read. Marik did not know his brother in the same way Bakura and Ryou knew each other, but he knew how to read him and how to fight him and beat him.

"_Where is Marik?_" Malik screamed. "_What did you do to him? What did you do?_"

Marik did not pay any attention to this. Malik was more than half-crazed and his rantings made no sense. There were meaningless distractions he could not afford to focus on. If he did, he would lose his life.

"_Where is my brother?_" Malik screamed. His face was twisted and fixed between some haunting mask of a grin and a bewildered snarl. He fought not without any technique or reason, abandoning all logic, training, crafts and guile he'd been taught throughout his life. In his madness he became a cornered animal even less aware than the ones he hunted. He swung and kicked and punched and bit and tore at random. It only made him easier to dodge, more see-through and apparent to Marik. He was not so surprised to see the tears he hadn't seen come from his brother since he'd been little.

"_Where are you? What happened?_"

Marik struck out for the first time and hit and solid wall of flesh. The blow glanced off Malik, the other barely cognizant of the effect, though it stole the wind from his lungs. Malik roared and charged again, undeterred by the attack. Marik dodged and hit, dodged and hit. It was pitiable how easy this all was. He knew well in advance how Malik would move and when he would present an opening. He knew when to block and when to press forward. It was like battling a child.

"_Where?_"

The word was desperate and pathetic. It wasn't getter better. He decided to end it.

Marik let his brother get up close to him. When he was within range he punched him hard, sending Malik sprawling back several paces. Malik's eyes widened in something close to hurt, but narrowed again in familiar murderous rage. He attacked again and Marik attacked back. When he was not blocking the hits aimed his way he was throwing his own. He punched Malik back far, cornered him against the same wall he'd held Ryou at. When Malik swung wildly, aiming for his face, Marik dodged and scooped the forgotten knife up from the floor. He wiped its bloodied edge on his jeans. When Malik took another hit at him, he slashed with the knife and deftly opened the length of his brother's left arm. He let the knife drop unceremoniously once more. Malik stared and he stared back.

_This is me. I haven't gone anywhere. I haven't been hidden from you. I've changed—but not much. I'm still you. I am still your brother. This is me. And I will not let you kill these two._

Malik moved from the wall. His eyes listed. He looked down at his bloodied arm and clenched the wound. Blood spilled out from the crevices beneath the clutch of his fingers. He took off the stupid cape he liked to wear and ripped a strip of fabric from it to fasten into a tourniquet. Then, just as suddenly as everything had began, he turned and walked from the house. Marik did not stop him. Doing so might have been the correct action to take in this situation, but all he did was watch him go.

When Marik was sure he' left, he allowed himself to go back to normal. As much of the tension as was possible for him to lose in this situation melted away and his keen instincts dropped. He felt tired again, so tired already and he knew this was still far from over.

"What the hell was that?" Bakura roared from the other side of the room. He was supporting Ryou again, but he looked as keyed up as Marik felt. It honestly came as a bit of a surprise to him that Bakura had not joined in the fight. A surprise but a relief; if he had, Marik doubted he would have gotten Malik to stop.

"That," Marik said, turning to face him fully, "was me choosing you over everything else. That was me as good as abandoning the only person like me in the world. Like what you saw? Bet it made you feel all tingly and happy inside, seeing proof of how thoroughly you own me." What did surprise him was the amount of venom he was able to muster up even after all that.

"Fuck no I'm not happy! Look what that fucking psychopath did to Ryou!" Marik's eyes flashed.

"Bakura, shut the hell up," he warned. "Ryou is fine. There wasn't even a lot on the blade. He'll probably be up and walking again within a few hours." Before Bakura could say anything, he continued on growing angrier at the vampire the more he spoke. "I really don't have time to deal with your shit, because now that Malik knows about all this, it's only going to be a matter of time until the rest of my family does as well. I'm going to have a hard enough time trying to keep the two of you alive without hearing about how fucked up this all is. I am more than aware of it."

"Well if your brother—!"

"No!" Marik interrupted, fist clenching. "Marik thought he was coming to _save_ me! He found out about this because Mai must have told him somehow, and he acted exactly as he should have. He didn't fucking _know_! He wasn't supposed to know, because then this would happen! But don't you dare go blaming this on him. _We_ were the ones who weren't careful enough; we're the ones to blame here. He didn't do anything but what he was trained to. He-he's just confused and-and—"

"And lonely," Ryou spoke up, making both sets of eyes look at him. The paralyzed boy elaborated no further. Bakura gawked at him openly, but Marik nodded. He understood. Maybe it had taken that fight and maybe he still didn't get it as clearly as Ryou did, but he understood. Malik was alone and scared like he'd been when he was younger, wondering why his big brother wasn't saving him from that bad man who was trying to cut him up. That had messed Malik up something fierce. It had messed Marik up as well, but the fact that Malik had appeared to deal with it better should have been as big a clue as any. Malik had screamed to know where he was because he didn't like this new Marik, this Marik who care for people other than him. He was lonely.

After the sudden revelation, Marik didn't know what else to say. His anger at Bakura had gone as suddenly as it had come, and now he was left wondering what to do. Malik wasn't wrong. He… he could have _handled_ the information better, but he wasn't wrong in his actions. But now… he would be going to tell Isis and Rishid. And once they knew, something would have to give. The tentative calm he was experiencing right now would be gone. His siblings would react in the same way Malik had. They would attack the moment they heard, and Malik would lead them.

"I have to go," Marik murmured. "Malik will tell Isis and Rishid. They'll be coming here. They'll want to kill you. I have to go and talk to them, do something about all of this."

"Do what?" Bakura asked. He was frowning. His surprise from Ryou's input in the conversation was gone, and al that was left now was the same steely conviction from before. "If they're as against us as you say they are, then nothing you can tell them is going to change their minds. They're apt to just lock you up and go after us with stakes and knives. I'd rather you be here with us if they come knocking."

What are you saying? Marik questioned slowly. "I'm hearing you wrong, aren't I? You cannot be saying that you're going to remain here. Malik can _lead_ them here."

"I know that!" Bakura snapped, irritated. "But Ryou can't move. I'm not leaving him, so what do you suggest, that I _drag_ him away? They'd find us and kill us in a second if we tried something so ill thought! We won't have a chance at escape until Ryou is able to move again."

"Do you actually _hear_ what you're proposing here? The moment Malik says 'vampire' they'll come. And you want to stay here! You'll be slaughtered!" Marik cried.

"Now if you're here with us," Bakura said. Marik's outstretched hands fell to his sides.

"You mean to use me," he said.

"They wouldn't dare try anything too dangerous if they knew you were still in here with us." Bakura didn't say one thing about using him, but he didn't deny the accusation. It was the same thing the others had just done to him, and Marik realized he was quickly getting sick of this. He was not some toy or a useful bargaining chip to be employed as a means to an end. The mark on his hip seemed to burn and itch in disagreement. He tried his best to ignore the sensation.

"And what if I don't agree with your little strategy? No, fuck the whole 'what ifs', I _don't_ agree with this. What's to keep me from leaving right now?" Marik questioned.

"I'll stop you if I need to, but I was hoping you'd see my way of thinking and we could prevent a fight. There's nothing we can do right now, not until Ryou can move again. If the two of us tried leaving right now, everyone would see us, and your siblings would know exactly where we were headed. Just think about it, Marik," Bakura said. Marik fumed. But fine, he wanted him to think about it, he would think about it.

First of all, it was a stupid idea. What Bakura was saying did make sense. Ryou would not move on his won until the Dead Man's Blood wore off, and if Bakura tried to drag him out of here, the neighbors would notice and be able to point out the direction they had gone to Marik's siblings later. There was a whole hell of dangers and uncertainties there, but it was still the best choice. If the vampires waited for the poison to run its course through Ryou's veins, they could perhaps have a chance as escaping with Isis, Rishid, and Malik following close behind, or it could not matter at all, because by the time the poison wore off, the Ishtars would already be here and escape would become impossible.

Running now was obviously the better choice, but Bakura was a stubborn, idiotic, brainless asshole and now Marik was forced to think of alternate ways of keeping him and his brother alive. His best was trying to talk to his siblings, but that was out of the picture now that he was apparently being held hostage here. Even if he wasn't there was of course no guarantee that talking to them would prevent anything. Marik had been completely serious in everything he'd said about them, and he knew it was a long shot that likely wouldn't work. But he felt like he still needed to try it. The only way he would be able to was if Bakura stayed here.

His siblings would come the moment Malik told them everything. If Bakura thought he would have enough time to wait on Ryou's regaining movement in his body and still be able to escape unseen, he was an idiot. If wouldn't happen. His siblings would arrive and the twins would be sitting ducks. But they wouldn't be attacked, and it wasn't just because Marik was in the house with them. Bakura and Ryou's house was in a populated area. There was no way his siblings could do anything and allow the neighbors to see. As long as they remained in this house, boxed in by the homes of others, they were safe. Surrounded, but safe. And the situation would allow Marik the chance to talk to his family.

"Fine," he relented. He didn't like it. It was still a foolish plan, and there was a damn lot of uncertainties. There was nothing that said Isis and Rishid would suddenly decide they didn't care about onlookers and break in to kill the vampires and anyway, and there was no way to keep Bakura and Ryou safe if the talk didn't work. But Marik didn't have a whole lot of options open to him at the moment.

"I'll stay here. _We'll_ stay here. And when my family comes, we're going to continue to stay here. No going outside for either of the two of you. No trying to escape or get away or do anything other than keep your asses right in this house. I'll take care of everything. Got that?" Marik questioned.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Bakura asked. He didn't say the question in any particular way, but it undermined Marik's authority, however inadvertently that might have been. All the anger he'd been feeling since last night rounded itself into a tight, hot ball glowing in the pit of him and Marik felt the same untamable rage he'd felt when he'd slaughtered Mai. He rounded on Bakura.

"No, I'm not fucking sure! I haven't had the time or ability to be sure of anything since last night! I could be condemning the two of you to your deaths right now and I wouldn't know it! But then there's not really anything else left for me to do any longer, is there? We're all at the ends of our ropes, so why don't you just shut the fuck up and attend to your brother and leave me to do whatever the fuck dirty work needs to be done. I've kept the two of you alive this far. So just get the hell away from me now and let me handle this," Marik hissed. Bakura appeared to have gained some common sense. He scowled and frowned but did not open his mouth. Marik stomped off to the small couch and sat with his head in his hands.

After some measure of time he heard the hushed voices of Bakura and Ryou. Then someone—obviously Bakura—was up and moving around the small house, while Ryou sucked in breaths of air he didn't need next to him. Bakura returned eventually and the hushed whispers began again. Marik did not try to decipher them. He didn't care. He was finding that he was beginning not to care about a lot of things. At some point the whispers died down, though he did not know if that result came from Bakura and Ryou actually ceasing their talking, or because he himself became unaware of it. He drifted while sitting there and tried not to think about anything. Everything that would happen now would happen regardless of anymore thought on his part. Things were far past the point where any of this could have been prevented. The only thing he could do now was hope things didn't end as bloodily as he thought they would.

"Hey."

Marik stirred but did not move from his seated position. He realized he was slowly becoming aware of things again, like the ache in his limbs from being held steady for so long.

"Hey. Get up."

"Your siblings are here, you idiot."

Marik ignored the insult and focused on the rest of the sentence. He opened his eyes and was greeted with darkness. Night had fallen outside. When he stood, his entire body felt stiff.

"Turn the lights on," he commented irritably. "We _want_ them to know you're in here." Bakura did so with a scowl. Marik meanwhile leaned over the couch and tried his hardest to peer out the window without bumping into Ryou. As Bakura had said, his family was here. They all three sat in the car on the other side of the street from the house. Marik couldn't make them out well, but doubtlessly they had already caught sign of him. When he moved back to the couch, he eyes caught sight of his motorcycle lying in the driveway. It had toppled over, but even the sight of it like that did not make him feel anything in particular right then. It did seem strange to him that his brother had not taken it, but he would be the first to admit that Malik had not been in the right state of mind when he'd left.

"Okay," he said, more to himself than the others in the room. "I'm going to call my sister. I want you two to remain silent. If we're going to do this, this will be the only chance we get."

He did not wait for a response. He walked into the kitchen, thought about turning a light on, then decided no, he liked it this way. He took his phone out from his pocket and stared at it. His hands were shaking, just a bit, but shaking all the same. He almost laughed at how much he was hesitating over one stupid phone call, but the sound caught in his throat. He dialed his sister's number and placed the phone up to his ear.

"Marik. Get out of that house right this instant."

"Isis, I—"

"No. Get out of the house. Now."

For a while, Mrik floundered. The steely tone of his sister's voice was something he'd heard before, but it was unfamiliar and foreign all the same. This was the voice he usually heard on particularly difficult hunts, or back in the past when everything bad in Egypt had come to a point. This tone meant there was no room for arguments or opinions of any kind, and Marik felt his hopes sink before they'd really had a chance to rise.

"Isis, I just need you to listen—"

"No Marik, _you_ listen. When your brother told me what happened today, I could not believe a word of what he was saying. No matter how it all sounded, I couldn't believe that you could be so _stupid_." Marik winced; that word fell like a blow. "I was all right with you not wanting to hunt anymore. I thought it was a little strange that you suddenly had a problem with it, but I could understand. It's not always easy to do. But _this_ is beyond my understanding. If everything Malik had said is correct, you not only saved this vampire's life and covered for him and his brother, but you invited him into our house, you befriended him, you _slept_ wit him, and now you're trying to bargain with me to let the both of them go? I will not allow this, Marik. Not get out of that house so we can end this problem once and for all."

"No, Marik heard himself say. His voice was barely above a whisper.

"_What?_"

"I said no," he repeated. "Malik may have told you all that, but he didn't tell you what I told him. They're not bad, Isis. I'm not saying that all vampires are good, but these ones are. They don't drink human blood and they've never once hurt me. They're my friends. And Bakura is… something more than that. I'm not going to let you or Rishid or Malik or anyone else kill them. You're not taking this away from me. So I'm not getting out of the house. Either you'll just have to let this all go and stop it, or kill me too."

"You're delusional," Isis said. Her tone was crisp, cool, and wholly dismissive. "They must have put you under a trance of some kind. It would explain why you've been acting this way."

"No they haven't!" Marik exploded. He was gripping the phone tight in his hand by now. "I know exactly what I'm saying right now! Why can't any of you get it through your heads that I'm serious first of all, and that I know what I'm doing? I don't care how hard this is for you all to wrap your minds around. It hasn't been easy for me either! But this is what I've chosen to do, and you'd best damn well get used to it! I don't be changing my mind anytime soon and I'm not going to just blindly follow along with whatever the lot of you has to say. I'm not leaving!"

"You're going to regret saying that," Isis said softly.

"No, I won't. Now are you going to listen to me for once and stop this?"

"We are hunters, Marik. It is our job to kill vampires and that is what we are going to do. Your feelings on the issue do not matter," Isis said.

"Fine."

Isis hung up without saying anything further, and Marik stared at the phone, lost. Nothing he hadn't already been expecting had transpired, but this still felt like a loss. As long as they remained inside the house they were still safe and would have the opportunity for further phone calls. Nothing much of the situation had changed, but Marik still felt beaten down even more than before. He finally hung up the phone and walked back into the living room.

Bakura and Ryou were both on the couch waiting for him, and from the looks on their faces, Marik knew they had overheard his conversation.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Ryou was the first to speak.

"You have any ideas?" Marik snapped.

"What if we tried talking to them? Actually going out there and talking to them, trying to explain ourselves?" Ryou asked. Marik shook his head.

"I already told you we're not doing that, Ryou!" Bakura butted in, interrupting Marik from saying the very same thing. Ryou frowned. It was about the only movement he was able to make. Though Bakura had situated him quite nicely, he still looked considerably uncomfortable.

"I think it's worth a shot! We might succeed! I know that if we had a chance to talk to them, we would be able to make them see. Even if we can't convince your brother and sister, I'm sure we could convince Malik to help us," Ryou argued.

"Malik just nearly killed you! What you're saying doesn't even made sense! He's insane! He'd kill you if you even got close!" Bakura yelled.

"Bakura, be quiet," Ryou said. Both Marik and Bakura were so surprised by the command coming from the timid boy that both did just that and looked on silently. "You understand less of Malik then both Marik and I. I don't want to hear you saying such things against him anymore. I know what he did and I know why he did it. He'd confused, just like Marik said. And he's lonely. I believe that if we just talked to him we could convince him to join us, if not your siblings as well. We just need to try talking to them."

Marik recovered his ability to speak first. Despite the conversation he'd had with his sister still lingering at the front of his mind, Marik found himself feeling a faint sort of amusement at how easily Ryou had shut his brother up. "Ryou, I agree with what you said there, but you can't leave. My siblings would grab you and take you somewhere to get rid of you before you had a chance to say a word to them. It's a nice idea, but it just won't work. The only way we can hope to talk to them is if I do it," he said.

"I think you're wrong," Ryou said. "I don't think they would do that. I've only met your siblings a few times, but I don't think they would be so heartless about this, knowing what they do now."

"Well none of it matters because we're not leaving this house. That's final, Ryou," Bakura said, reentering the conversation. Marik was loathe to agree with the older twin, but in this instance he had to. There was no other option here. The vampires could not go outside.

"He's right, Ryou. You can't go out there. Even if you did have a change at changing their minds. It's too dangerous," Marik said. Ryou frowned but did not chase the matter. Marik was sure he hadn't given up on the idea, but as long as it wasn't pursued any further he didn't care whether or not he convinced Ryou. He still had other things to worry about, and if that first conversation with his sister was any indication of how the rest would go, then it was not going to be easy convincing his siblings to let the vampires live. He would have to put all of his resources into that.

"Marik," Bakura said. Marik lifted his head to acknowledge the other's presence but did nothing more.

"I thought maybe we could have a talk," Bakura continued, either uncaring or unnoticing of Marik's less than warm behavior. Marik really did not want to talk with anyone, especially not if that person was Bakura. He was fighting to save the vampire but he was still angry with him, and he doubted any amount of talking about solve that. But he did not want to act childish about this entire thing, so when Bakura walked away from Ryou into the kitchen, Marik followed.

"So what are we doing? What's the plan?" Bakura asked.

"You already know the plan. We stay here and wait this out. I'll keep talking to my siblings and trying to convince them that the two of you aren't about to go out for a night on the town and drain every human being in sight," Marik said.

"And when that doesn't work?" Bakura questioned dryly. "What do we do then?" Marik said nothing because he hadn't thought that far ahead. Well, he had, but… He knew how improbable it was that any of this would actually work. He was fairly certain Isis would rather be killed during a hunt than cede that any of this was okay. The same went for Rishid, and as for Malik, even with the insight he'd gained into his brother's warped mind earlier, he had no clue as to how his twin truly felt about this whole thing. The only other option there was available when all this failed was to fight, and both he and Bakura knew it.

"You know this is all going to end in a fight, right? And I'll try not to harm your sibling, but I'm getting both Ryou and I out of here alive. So if blood needs to be spilt, then I'm warning you now that I won't hold back," Bakura said. Again, this was something Marik already knew. He recalled his jealousy from earlier when he'd watched Ryou fuss over Bakura's wound, and how Bakura had flown to Ryou'd protection. He could even now see the bullet hole in Bakura's forehead, a bit smaller than it had been when it had first been put there. Ryou hadn't ever had the chance to cover it up.

"I guess the real question I'm posing here is what are you going to do? Whose side are you going to be on when the shit starts going down?" Bakura asked. Marik frowned.

"Don't ask stupid questions. We don't have time to be playing around here," he answered.

"Which is exactly why I'm asking," Bakura interjected. "It's in mine and Ryou's best interests to know which side of the field you'll be playing. Are you going to be with us, or are we going to have four enemies to contend ourselves with?"

"I'm not answering that," Marik said, growing angry now. "It's a stupid question."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, it fucking it!" Marik raged. "I'm not choosing sides. I'm not going to pick you over my family and I'm not going to pick them over you! And I'm not going to let you all destroy yourselves because you can't just fucking stop acting like assholes and get along!"

"You might say that now, but you'll have to chose eventually. You could come with Ryou and I. Once we get out of here in one piece, we can find a place where he can stay on his own for a while, and then it can just be you and I," Bakura said. His voice had lowered slightly, taken on a bit of a seductive tone and he was even closer than Marik could remember him having been before. He might have been flattered by the offer if he wasn't so offended by it instead.

He backed away angrily and glared. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Bakura! I'm not just going to abandon my siblings! There's not going to be a fight. I'm going to figure this all out. I'm going to fix this."

"If that's what you say…"

"Yeah, that's what I say! Now just… go to fucking sleep or something! Stay out of my face!" He turned and headed directly out of the kitchen. He caught sight of Bakura shrugging as he went, but his eyes glowed an angry red.

For the rest of the night, Marik did not talk to anyone. Even Bakura and Ryou did not talk anymore. He and Ryou remained sitting silently on the small couch while Bakura agitatedly paced the length of the living room floor, pausing every ten minutes or so to peer out the window. At around two in the morning, Marik was quite sure that he'd been right in thinking his siblings would not attack with so many potential onlookers, and so he suggested they go to bed. Bakura made a scoffing noise at the suggestion that Marik ignored, and Ryou offered the use of his bed if Marik was tired, on the grounds that, still being unable to move, he couldn't enjoy it anyways. Marik accepted without much of a fight.

He did not sleep that night. Ryou's bed was comfortable enough and he felt so very tired, but every time he closed his eyes he opened them up again a few minutes later. On occasion he could hear Bakura and Ryou arguing about something in the living room, but he did not go out there to join them. They would be keeping watch on his siblings, and his siblings would be keeping watch on them. At five o'clock in the morning, it all seemed hilariously stupid in a queasy sort of way.

In the morning it was quite obvious to the vampires that he hadn't slept, but then it was quite obvious to him that they hadn't either. They didn't look as bad as Marik, who hadn't slept in forty-eight hours now, but the signs of prolonged stress were still there. He observed this all as he walked out of Ryou's room, and then went into the kitchen to make himself a meal out of whatever foods Ryou kept in there for appearance's sake. He managed to chew a few bites before he realized he wasn't hungry.

Later on in the day Ryou slowly regained his ability to move. Marik watched this with interest. When they used Dead Man's Blood, the Ishtars used a high concentration of the stuff to guard the house with, and a low concentration when they went hunting. The thought process behind that was if a vampire were to attack them when they were away from the house, there would be enough poison in its blood to guarantee it was still there when they got back. If they used it while hunting, it didn't matter as much for how long the vampire was immobile. In the end it would be dead. Marik had never seen one recover from the poison aside from Bakura, and he had a good feeling that Bakura's case had not been normal. Ryou's recovery was slow and looked a bit painful.

With Ryou's being able to move now he again brought up the idea of going out there and trying to talk to them. Bakura and Marik rejected it flat out. But Marik did call his sister for a second time and got into a conversation with her so similar to the one he and Bakura had had in the kitchen that he felt like giving up. No one thought he could do this. No one thought that he would be able to keep from picking sides. Maybe they were all right.

Bakura only got antsier as the day wore on. He continued to look out the windows and the irritance on his face was becoming more and more apparent. Marik told him that his family wouldn't attack, but the other didn't seem to listen. When night fell again, Marik was sick of watching him flit about from one spot of the house to another, so he headed back into Ryou's room and bed, which the younger twin had again insisted he take. Marik went to bed and this time it took him only an hour to fall asleep. When he woke up it was still dark and it was because he'd heard a noise he couldn't identify.

What really got him on red alert was the silence. It had been silent in the house many times before when Bakura and Ryou hadn't been talking, but this silence felt much more oppressive and lacking life. It was wrong and it was what got him out of the bed and moving to see that the living room was empty of two vampires.

"Shit." He wasn't exactly sure what had happened or how it had happened, but he was quite sure that his siblings had somehow gotten a hold of Bakura and Ryou. Marik grabbed for his phone and dialed his sister's number. He was unsurprised that she did not answer.

"Shit!" he swore again. He threw his shoes on and headed out the door. The car was no longer there, as he'd thought. "Why couldn't you just fucking listen to me when I said don't leave the house?" Because now he didn't know where they were. Now they could already be dead and he wouldn't know until he found their bodies or one of his siblings called him with the news.

His bike was still lying in the driveway. That was right, Malik hadn't taken it with him. A small bit of luck that Marik hoped would actually matter in the long run. He didn't have a helmet, but right now that was the least of his worries. He hopped on the bike without it and headed straight for his house.

He did not see the car in the driveway when he got there, but that meant nothing. He stopped long enough to see that the lights were off in the house and then was moving again. He had not thought that they would be in the house and so it did not disappoint him to find that they were not. Malik and Rishid wouldn't have cared, but Isis would never have knowingly allowed a vampire into their home. Instead he headed to the shed in the back where they stored their equipment. The last time he had been back there, Bakura had as well. Now he expected to again find Bakura, but only his body, the life having been drained out of him. Maybe he would be in pieces, or maybe it would just be a simple decapitation or a stake to the heart, or it could have happened by fire. Worst yet was the thought that maybe he was not dead but merely wishing for it. When Marik reached for the door to the shed he expected to see signs of torture and blood, but instead found nothing at all. Bakura was not here.

He stood there, stumped. Bakura was not here. There were no signs that his family had been, either. They had taken him somewhere else, and Marik did not have the slightest clue as to where that might be. _Think, Marik!_ But he couldn't. When he tried, all be was able to summon was that panicky feeling he'd felt when Mai had shot Bakura and he'd been so afraid that somehow, even though he _knew_ it didn't work that way, that Bakura would be dead, that he—

And suddenly he was sure that Bakura was at the warehouse. He didn't know why he was so sure. It he stopped to think about it, there was really no reason at all why he couldn't be somewhere else. But as Marik hopped onto his motorcycle, he knew that was where he was going. It was the vampires at the warehouse who had messed everything up and it made sense that, one way or another, everything would be solved there.

Marik drove as fast as he possibly could to get there. He broke quite a few speeding laws along the way, but managed to not get into any trouble for it. Another small token of luck. Maybe things were getting better.

When he arrived at the warehouse he felt a shiver of apprehension that as good as solidified his idea that Bakura would be here. The doors to the warehouse were closed, but the lock on it was still broken from when Mai had opened it. When he threw them open, the smell of old blood washed over him strongly. He would not be going to jail for murder after all. Evidently no one had found the bodies.

He caught sight of Bakura and Ryou fighting against Isis and Malik respectively. But before he had a chance to really see what was going on or even puzzle out how this had happened, Rishid was in front of him, trying to grab him. Marik reacted quickly and sidestepped away.

"Marik," Rishid greeted as he straightened his body and stood at his full height.

"Rishid. It's been a while," Marik responded his voice just as carefully guarded as his brother's. The two sized each other up and almost simultaneously let their muscles relax and the tension in them dissipate.

"It wouldn't have been so long had you obeyed your sister," Rishid said. Marik scoffed.

"It wouldn't have been so long if the three of you just listened to me and stopped all this," he shot back. Some emotion flitted past Rishid's face, but Marik would not decipher it. He cared for his brother dearly, but at times the man was even harder to read than Malik.

"Marik, I think this has gone on long enough. It's time for you to stop this nonsense and come back to us." Marik bristled. He made to make a comment, then was distracted by the fight going on between Isis and Bakura. Isis had a long and slender knife and was attacking Bakura with all she had. The vampire's eyes were a glowing red, and his hair flew in every direction as he parried her attacks with his claws, snarling. They looked like they were night fighting at all, but dancing some intricate movement full of giving and takes. Two colors clashing together violently, magnificently. Rishid caught his eye and broke him from his string of thought, made him remember that he should be out there coming up with a way to stop all this.

"I'm not going to listen to you. Or Isis. You want to kill them and I won't let you," Marik said simply.

"Marik, stop this. Please. You don't understand how hard this is on your sister and brother. We all only want what's best for you," Rishid said, voice taking on a more familiar, pleading tone.

"Oh, so killing my friends is the way to do that?" Marik asked, mockingly, not allowing himself to get caught up in his near-constant anger just yet. His eyes drifted again and landed on Malik and Ryou this time. In comparison to Isis and Bakura's, their dance was slow and unimpressive. They held each other at arm's length and looked like they were putting on some kind of play or act. "And I don't want to hear how difficult this is for them. They're making this difficult for everybody."

"It doesn't have to be difficult at all," Rishid argued softly.

"No, it doesn't," Marik agreed. "Just let Bakura and Ryou live." Rishid shook his head slowly. He shifted, moved in such a way that it looked like he was preparing for a fight. Marik unconsciously mirrored his movements.

"I'm sorry, but you know we cannot do that. They are vampires and we have to kill them. Even if they are your friends," Rishid said. He sounded almost apologetic.

"And like I said, I won't let you do that. Let me through, Rishid." Rishid shook his head slowly. Marik took a few steps back and widened his stance as he prepared to fight his brother. He found himself wishing that he'd thought to bring something with him when he'd stopped by his house. Not anything dangerous, but something that would make him feel like his footing was more even here. When his father had died, Rishid had taken over his training. Even when the old man had been alive, Rishid had often taught him and Malik when their dad couldn't be bothered. Something as simple as just getting past him would not be an easy task.

But it was one Marik did not have to worry about. Bakura had gained the upper hand in his fight with his sister and had knocked her to the ground. He was advancing now, growling like some kind of animal. Before Marik could react to this in any certain way, Rishid already had. He was sprinting toward the two and crashed into Bakura hard, sending them both to the ground and giving Isis enough time to stand up. And then Marik's attention was stolen once again from the fight by his twin. Malik stood in front of him looking grim and stone-faced.

He did not react to this new development right away. It was hard enough deciding what to do when it came to Rishid and Isis, but the last time he'd been Malik, his brother had tried to kill him. Marik did not know if there was a possibility of that happening again. Unlike that last time, Malik was not giving anything away here.

Marik opened his mouth to say something and Malik attacked him with a swift uppercut. Marik only just managed to force his body into a stumbling dodge to miss it. He openly shared his surprise with his brother, who did not react in any outward way.

"I am going to ask you several questions. And you are going to answer them all honestly, every single one," Malik said.

"What are you talking about? That doesn't—" Malik attacked him again. He crouched and swept his legs out, meaning to take Marik's own out from underneath him. Marik reacted in time to dodge again, but just barely. When he stood up, he kept a weary eye on his brother, waiting for whatever would come next.

"Who are you?" Malik asked. His tone was sharp, yet also somehow bored.

"You know what I—" Marik started. Then Malik was on him again, bringing the fight up close. He threw punches and elbows that Marik could only try his best to block. Every time he tried to put some space between himself and his twin, Malik would close it quickly and force them up close again. Marik grit his teeth and tried his best to bear it. This was a much clearer and more focused Malik than the one before, with his haphazard strikes and crazed rants, and one much harder to subdue. Though he still had no idea what Malik wanted from him, only that he had told him to speak honestly and answer who he was.

"I am Marik Ishtar," he managed to say through the barrage of attacks. "Son of Muta and Cecilia Ishtar. Twin to Malik Ishtar and brother of Rishid and Isis Ishtar. I was one the leader of the Ghouls. I helped to kill a man. I used to be a hunter, but now I'm just Marik."

Malik seemed satisfied by the answer, if only known by the lessoning intensity of his hits. He did not let up on them in any way though. He stopped only to ask his second question, and then continued on.

"Why did you stop hunting?"

Marik frowned but would answer it anyway. He did not understand the meaning of this or what Malik was looking from it, but if this was the only way to get away, then he would take it, even if he would rather not answer. He focused all of his strength in his arms and upper body and knocked Malik away. He scanned the length of the warehouse he was able to see and caught sight of Rishid and Bakura going at it now. Both were bleeding and their body language spoke of a growing fatigue, but they were fighting in earnest and without any decrease in intensity. He looked for Isis and Ryou but did not see them anywhere. This worried him. He needed to finish this up here quickly. He turned his attention back to Malik, who was on his feet and waiting for his answer.

"I stopped hunting because of Bakura. I found him and learned what he was and that he wasn't dangerous to me. He and Ryou drink the blood of animals. When I tried to hunt, all I was able to think about was them. I knew that these vampires killed and drained humans and needed to be put down. I had her trapped, and I tried to do it, but I couldn't." Malik digested the information. Marik wished he would stop looking so empty. He knew how pathetic it was for him to have to admit to something like that as being truth. He wanted Malik to sneer and tease him and act like normal. He wanted to continue on and tell him more, try to convince him as Ryou had suggested, but he knew that would be a quick way to bring down his attacks again.

"Why did you take care of him?" Malik asked. He was still not attacking, but Marik could sense that beneath his calm, he was ready to act at a moment's word.

Marik did not answer this inquiry immediately. It was a simple question, but there was more to it than that. Malik himself did not give this away in any manner. His face was as slack and blank as ever, and his tone bland, but none of that held any weight. The question was too close to home. Why did you take care of him? Why didn't you tell us? Why did you hide him? Why did you befriend him? Why did you betray us? How? How could you do this? How how how? There was much more hidden in that question than just that.

"I don't know why I did it at first," Marik started out. He didn't need to remind himself to be honest, because there wasn't anything else he could be in this situation. "I was surprised to see him there and couldn't believe it. I'd started to become friends with him in class, you know, and so the first thing I did was take him to the shed out back because I knew he wouldn't be found there. I tried to kill him once. I… just wasn't able to." Here Marik trailed off for a second, then was forced to stop completely as Malik came to him once more. If possible, his brother's face was even more empty than before, but his attacks betrayed a fierce rage.

"I don't know why I wasn't able to do it," Marik continued in bursts. Malik had brought out his knife as some point, and now Marik was being forced to keep on his toes at all times to dodge it. It was impossible to do anything but try to get away now. He looked for an opening to disarm Malik, but his twin wasn't giving him any.

"I wanted to. I knew he was a vampire and he needed to die, but I think—fuck!" Malik had nicked him. The cut on his arm was shallow, but it was already bleeding profusely. "—but the familiarity of him prevented me from going through with it. He was—is—such an asshole, but I _knew_ him. I couldn't kill him, even though I knew that I should. And then I realized—that I didn't _want_ him dead. So I made sure—you guys—didn't find him, and when he could—more again, I never told anyone what happened."

"Do you care about us?" Malik asked. He didn't sound out of breath at all, though he had been going for so long now. He was steady and strong compared to Marik's own gasp-filled words.

"Of course I do!" Marik yelled. He kicked his brother away from him and took a second to look around at everything else, but Malik was again in front of him, never faltering or slowing in his movements.

"Do you love us?" he asked.

"Yes! You guys are my family, Malik, of course I love you all! I just don't want—" Malik had kneed him sharply in the gut and knocked the wind from him. He stumbled backwards a few steps, hands instinctively going to cover the area that had taken the blow. Malik stood coldly above him.

"Do you love him?"

The last question hit Marik as physically hard as a blow had. He remembered when Ryou had first told him of Bakura's affections and used the word love, how startled he had been.

"Malik, what are you—"

"This is not a conversation," Malik interrupted. "This is me asking you a question, and you answering. Now answer, and answer honestly."

It was hard digging through the anger he felt at Bakura for everything that had happened recently. It was hard seeing past his jealousy. He noticed when he looked around him that now that Malik was no longer attacking, he had a chance to see everyone. It did not surprise him to find that Bakura and Ryou were fighting Isis and Rishid together. All parties were hurt and snarling and he had to find a way to end this soon before they all killed themselves.

"Yeah, I think I do," Marik answered. "I hate him too and he pisses me off to no end, but I think I do."

"I didn't ask if you 'thought' you did. Do you?" Malik asked.

"Yes, I do," Marik answered. He was sure of himself. "I love Bakura."

Malik walked up to him slowly. His hands hung listlessly at his sides. Marik straightened his posture. He couldn't sense anything now. Even the smallest traces of emotion had been wiped from Malik's face. Marik stood in front of him, face to face. Then all of the lethargy was gone from his brother's form, and before he could comprehend what had happened, Malik's blade had been thrust up the hilt in his belly.

Malik withdrew the knife and the blood that had been staunched by the blade came pouring out. He tried to think through the pain. Blood was leaving him quickly, much too quickly for him to be able to recover from it if it wasn't stopped. He looked to Malik for help, but Malik was still standing there. His face was so strange, like all the emotions he never showed were all battling now for a space to reveal themselves and it was hurting him now. His mouth was turned upright in a scar-like grimace of pain, and a hand was pressed tightly to his head to still the war there. Marik fell to his knees in his own blood. He pressed weakly against the hole in his stomach and the flowing blood dyed his hand red. His vision was swimming and fading and he was thinking that he wasn't going to make it. Only he wasn't afraid, because he couldn't pay attention to anything long enough to be afraid. So he just died.

00000

Bakura smelled blood. A lot of it. He'd been smelling blood since he'd arrived. First the scent of the vampires who had died earlier and the woman who had tried to kill him, then his own and Ryou's and Marik's siblings and some of Marik's own. He was spared from one of his recent blood crazes coming over him not only because he had just recently fed, but because he had no time to lose control over himself. If he did that he would feed and then he would be vulnerable. He would not last long in that state, and the goal here was for him to stay alive. So when someone began losing copious amounts of blood and quickly, while he certainly reacted to the rich scent, he would not at first isolate it from all the other's in the air as Marik's. It was Marik's sister who noticed first.

She'd heard something and turned away from the battle long enough to look at it. Bakura had been prepared to attack her. Then the weapon fell from her hands and her face turned ashy and she began to run, screaming Marik's name. Bakura had turned and looked and felt his stomach drop to his feet. Then he was running too, for once not even thinking about Ryou and the opponent he had left for him to face. He made sure to reach Marik's side before his sister.

He knelt as fast as he could and scooped Marik up into his arms. The blonde's eyes were still open and his wound was still pumping out blood, but it became apparent to Bakura right away that he was dead. Bakura felt his own eyes sting and tingle and his sense of smell tell him, even now, how good Marik's blood was. He was unable to believe this. Then he was on his feet and Marik was on the ground and Isis had just arrived and pulled Marik into her lap in the same way he had, and now they both had his blood on them and Bakura was on his feet and marching straight up to Malik. His eyes had never burned so brightly.

"You killed him!" he roared at Malik. He wrapped a hand around the male's neck and started to squeeze slowly. Never before had he hated this person for having the same face as Marik as he did now. He had _killed_ Marik. His own flesh and blood! Bakura was going to make him pay, he was going to squeeze the life out of him and murder him slowly, he was going to—

"Bakura!" Ryou shouted. "Stop!" Bakura turned on him.

"He killed Marik! He killed his own brother!" he yelled, furious. Ryou placed his hand on Bakura's arm.

"Let him go," Ryou said. And Bakura listened. He released Malik and the other teen sucked in gulp after greedy gulp of air. Bakura glared at him with disdain and fury and hoped it burned on the way down.

"Tell me why I shouldn't snap your neck for what you've done," he hissed.

"You can fix him," Malik rasped out, holding onto his neck. Bakura's eyes narrowed. "All you need to do is turn him and he'll be alive again."

"Are you crazy?" Bakura yelled. "It's not that simple! There are no guarantees that it would work, and if it did, he would be stuck like this!" Malik lurched up to him, hand still on his throat. His eyes were angry and desperate and sad all at once. He grabbed a hold of Bakura's shoulder for support and leaned in close to his ear.

"Turn him," he hissed. "He told me that he loved you. He wouldn't fucking care _what_ he was, so just fucking get over your fear and _do it_. It's the only way to make this stop." And then Malik shoved him away, towards Marik's body.

His sister was still holding on to him and crying. Her and Rishid both looked up at him when he approached. Isis's grip on Marik's shoulders tightened considerably, and Rishid moved to block his path.

"Move. I'm going to fix him," he said hoarsely.

"You won't come anywhere near him!" Isis shrieked. "I won't have him becoming a monster like you! This is all your fault!" Her words stung him. It _wasn't_ his fault. Malik had killed him. But was this all because of him somehow? Did the blame all fall on his shoulders?

"Let him through," Malik commanded behind them all. Isis and Rishid both looked to him. Rishid shuffled out of his way and Isis, looking chastised, slid away from Marik when he came forth again. Bakura settled onto his knees and took Marik into his lap as he has before. His fangs began to lengthen and the thought of what he was about to do repulsed him. But he didn't have time to waste. If he was going to do this, he had to do it soon. He would run out of time if it didn't happen quickly.

He bit hard into Marik's neck and began to suck. He heard the gasp of Marik's sister and looked up. Rishid was holding her back. She looked ready to break free and wrench Marik away from him without another moment's hesitation. His own brother was huddled close to Malik. All of them were giving him looks that made him feel like he was guilty of some wrongdoing. He wanted to yell at them all that he was only doing what they wanted, what they were forcing him to do, but he was busy swallowing each new mouthful of thick blood. Marik's tasted as delicious as ever, but now it made his stomach churn. He wanted to be sick.

Most of Marik's blood had wound up on the floor. There wasn't a lot left to drain out of him, but he took it all. When there was not a drop left more to take from him, Bakura cradled Marik's body in one arm while he bit open his free wrist with his teeth. He held the bleeding appendage over Marik's mouth and watched as his own blood dripped down. The moment that first drop fell, the infection in his blood began to spread through Marik. Drained of all his blood as he was and with no way to fight it off, it took hold quickly. Marik began to move in his arms and he withdrew his wrist and the supply of blood it provided. The creature in his arms stirred and whined and Bakura moved him gently up to his own neck and help him in place.

"Drink," he murmured, and Marik did just that. He winced as he felt fangs pierce through his skin and the pull of his blood leaving him. The pull was weak at first, the suckling motions of an infant. But it grew stronger as each second passed and Marik drank more and more. Bakura felt Mariks hands tighten around his arms to the point where it hurt and then some. His own hold on Marik grew weaker and weaker as he lost more and more of his own supply of blood, then faltered completely. Marik was unbothered by the lack of support. He drank with long, strong gulps. Bakura felt his entire body grow heavy and sag. It was time to stop. If Marik continued to drink from him, they would both die.

He tried to shake the fledgling off him, but he no longer had any strength with which to do so. Marik continued to drink from him and he could do nothing about it. He was reaching a point where he didn't want to, either. He could remember how hungry he'd been when he'd woken, how good it had felt to feed before the pain of the change came. And he remembered how it had felt to be so deeply connected to the one who'd sired him. He could feel that now as well. He could feel Marik. The world throbbed with Marik's essence and the same life blood that kept him alive and walking on this planet did the something now for Marik. He'd thought he'd lost Marik. When his eyes had first fallen on Marik's body, he'd felt the same pain as when is heart had stopped beating long ago, and he'd been left with the bewildered feeling of having lost something precious. But now Marik was here, Marik was with him, Marik was holding him. And he was so happy. Malik had said that Marik loved him. Bakura hadn't realized it was possible for him to feel the same.

"Love you," he mumbled, head drooping against Marik's own. He was so tired now. His words had been incomprehensible uttering to all. He was not capable of producing more than sounds and noises now. He did not notice when Marik finally pulled away from him, but he did hear the screams that came afterwards. He knew what those meant. He was glad he did not have to go through that torture again.

Bakura closed his eyes and did not wake up.

00000

Ryou sat on the edge of the bed and watched Marik slumber. The boy had spent a whole day writhing and screaming with the pain of the change, and another sleeping. This was the second he would spend in bed. Ryou thought it was good that he remain asleep while his body did all the work. Less painful. But his siblings were understandably concerned and just wished that he would wake up, even if it did mean more screaming.

Bakura too was still out, but he was sleeping in a guest bedroom. Ryou had just been in to check on him earlier. Marik's bedroom was a high-traffic area, but he thought he was the only one who ever checked in on Bakura. Ryou supposed he was okay with this. His brother had lost a lot of blood in the process of turning Marik, and would not wake up until he recovered that blood. The lack of visitors made it easier for Ryou to feed him the blood of any animals he was able to trap and kill. He knew his brother was in no danger, but he wished he would wake up all the same. The Ishtars had allowed him into their house and were civil to him, but Ryou still felt uncomfortable. They were always shooting strange glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking.

The door to Marik's room opened and Ryou stood up and readied himself to leave. No one had specifically told him he was not to be in here, but he didn't like being in the same room with Isis or Rishid for extended periods of time, especially not when it was Marik's room.

It was Malik that walked in. Ryou greeted him courteously and then prepared to leave. He had not seen much of Malik since the fight when they'd planned together. Since then, he hadn't been avoiding the younger of the two Ishtar twins, but he hadn't been planning on meeting him either. Things felt weird between them. He hadn't forced Malik to act in any way he hadn't wanted to, but it felt as if he had all the same. There was at least some part of him that was responsible for the guilt Malik himself had to feel.

"Wait," Malik called on his way out. Ryou paused in the open doorway and leaned back to look at him. "How is he?"

Ryou walked back inside the room and closed the door. "He's doing fine," he answered. "He's changing as a completely normal rate. I would estimate he should be done some time early tomorrow morning."

"Will he be awake by then?" Malik asked.

"That depends on him," Ryou said. Malik hummed and Ryou, thinking that he was no longer needed here, turned again to leave.

"Wait," Malik called a second time. Ryou waited. "I want you to do it to me. Make me like him."

"You want me to… turn you?" Ryou questioned, sure that he must have heard this wrong. The other male nodded. "Into a vampire?" Another nod. "Are you sure?"

"He's my brother," Malik answered simply. He did not need to say more. Ryou understood. He had wanted Bakura to turn him for the same reasons. When you lived with another person so like you in every way for your entire life, it became hard to leave them. Still, he felt like he needed to caution Malik against this.

"Are you completely positive you want this? It's dangerous, and it doesn't always work. If it doesn't, you will die," Ryou warned. Malik scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious!" Ryou protested, face reddening at how easily Malik dismissed his worries. "It's not as easy as it looks! I have to drain you of all your blood to make the infection move fast enough for it to work. You will be dead for several minutes. After that, I have to let you drink my own blood to let the infection in. There are no guarantees that it will work and you will become one of us. And if it does work and you begin to turn, if you take all of my blood, the both of us will die. It doesn't work if I don't survive through it. I'll still do it, but I want you to know exactly what could happen here."

Malik did not respond at first. His face took on a strange look and became unreadable. He took a few steps closer to Ryou, who took one back. His face was still red, though now it was from the remembrance of the last time Malik had been so close to him. If he thought about it, he could still recall the hungry way Malik had captured his lips. He tried not to. He was sure that kiss hadn't meant anything. Malik had been confused and upset to learn that he'd been lied to. He hadn't been thinking clearly. Malik was such a frail creature, more so than Ryou had ever though he was. He wanted to be Malik's friend and show him that it was all right to open up and to care, but he didn't think he could be anything more. Malik… he didn't want that, wasn't ready for it. Ryou would be his friend. He was okay with that. He would have to be okay with just that.

"Stop running away from me," Malik commanded, breaking Ryou from his thoughts. He noticed that he had backed up so much that he was almost pressing himself against the wall. Malik looked annoyed by this. When he came forth again, Ryou stood his ground. "Are you finally afraid of me now? Is that it?"

"No!" Ryou cried out, startled. He did not want Malik thinking that, because he wasn't, he wasn't! He was just… It had been different, when he and Malik had orchestrated their play-fight. He'd been close then, but Ryou had been too busy reading his moves, too busy trying to keep up the act while they planned. Now there was no fight to stop, no family that would be killed if they failed, and all he could focus on was Malik and how much he wanted what he couldn't have.

"Ryou," Malik said. Ryou's entire body froze. Malik saying his name was not something that happened. The first and only time it had was when Malik had threatened to kill him, when he'd been out of his mind. When they had kissed.

Malik leaned in close to him now too. He was not crazy this time and he did not seem unaware of everything. To Ryou, that made him seem all the more frail and in need of someone to protect him. He had to will his body not to react to his proximity. It took all of his mental strength not to reach out and grab Malik by his long blonde hair and force their lips together in a second hungry kiss. Malik was not ready for that! He had to keep reminding himself of this. He could not have Malik, he could not—

"Do you love me?" Malik asked, and Ryou's thought-process died. Malik's eyes were closed and he did not ask the question so much as he breathed it. So softly, softer than Ryou had ever seen him before. _Answer him!_ his subconscious screamed, and he wanted to so badly, but he couldn't, because Malik wasn't ready for this, Malik was so easy to break—

"Yes," Ryou answered, closing his own eyes, not believing that he was doing this. "I love you. I fell in love with you when I first met you. You looked so lonely and I didn't want you to be. I wanted to be your friend. I _want_ to be your friend."

"No you don't," Malik said. Ryou opened his eyes in confusion and looked into the one's gazing at him. "You don't just want that. You're willing to put your own life at risk to turn me into a vampire so I can be with Marik. I'm not right inside. I don't understand things. But I know that you wouldn't do that for me if you just wanted to be my friend. Tell me what you want. Make me understand it. Don't lie or sugar-coat it either. I want to know."

Ryou gulped. He couldn't help it, he blushed and looked away. Malik grabbed him by his chin and forced him to look once more. "Tell me," he pleaded, and ah, how could he resist? Ryou was terrified that he would say too much and frighten him off, but the intensity of Malik's gaze was forcing him to go through with this.

"I _do_ want to be your friend," Ryou began, keeping his gaze on Malik. He was doing fine so far. He had not freaked out at the word "friend" or shown even a hint of discomfort. He seemed to be listening attentively, which was as good a sign as any. "But… I want to be more. I love you. I want to be around you, and I want to know more about you. I want to know about your life. I want to know how you feel and what you think, and I…I want to be able to protect you." Ryou paused here to search Malik's face, sure that if the other male was going to break out into that crazed laughter of his, this would be the point. But Malik did not do that. There were signs of strain on his face, like he was trying to understand. When he noticed the worry on Ryou's own face he just nodded for him to continue.

"I don't want you to be hurt anymore. And I don't want to have to fight with you, or lie. I just want to be with you, and for you and I to be happy. I want to touch you, and I want to kiss you… and I want you," Ryou finished, face beet red by now. Malik closed his eyes and Ryou waited. He was very worried now. He did not have the slighted clue what would happen next. He was floundering in the unknown.

"I feel something," Malik said finally. He opened his eyes and frowned. "It's not love. I don't know what that feels like. And I don't want you in the same way I want Marik. I don't need you like that." Ryou tried not to let his face fall too much as Malik continued on. Right now, Malik mattered. He'd known everything the other male was currently telling him. Malik wasn't ready for anything more. That type of thing did not matter.

"But I need you. You aren't afraid of me. You've never been afraid of me. You're an idiot for that," Malik continued, frown deepening. "I want you for that. I like having to not worry about controlling myself. I like you for that. I don't know if that's enough."

"Enough for what?" Ryou asked, voice raising in what he hoped wasn't too obviously a show of hope.

"Enough for you. You said you wanted me to tell you how I feel and think. I can do that. It's not pretty, but I can do it without having to fear that you'll run screaming away from me." Malik's mouth broke open into a sharp splitted grin that ran from ear to ear. It looked like he didn't feel too badly about the thought of Ryou screaming and terrified. Then the taller teen subdued himself once more and took back his frown.

"You said that you wanted to be happy. I don't know if I can do that. So maybe you're the one who should reconsider what you're asking," Malik finished, shrugging. Ryou blinked. Reconsider what? Wanting him? He wasn't going to do that. Not when Malik still looked so hurt and was so vulnerable right now, offering himself up.

Ryou did what he had wanted to do earlier. He wrapped his hands behind Malik's neck and pulled him down for a kiss. He pressed his lips against Malik's for the barest of seconds, careful not to go too fast or to overwhelm him with emotion. Just enough of a sensation to let him know that he was wanted. Ryou pulled away with a smile on his face. It widened when he saw the hint of an answering one of Malik's own face. Just a small thing, but it made Ryou feel so light, so happy.

"This is going to hurt just a bit," he warned as his fangs lengthened. Malik nodded and moved his head and hair to expose his neck. Ryou bit down and thought to himself, this could work. It really could.

00000

He felt the difference even before he awoke. His body felt strange, healthier, even though its deadened state argued against that possibility. He stopped himself from breathing and found that not having to do so to stay alive was liberating. When he did inhale, thousands of unique scents flooded his senses and mingled, each new one painting a masterpiece in his head. When he opened his eyes the world came in such startling Technicolor that it almost hurt. Lines were sharply defined and colors so bright he could taste them. He stood and his body displayed none of the previous pain that had crippled it so, but oozed of raw power. Marik was quite sure he could get used to this.

Isis was in the room with him. He had known of her presence earlier, but had only acknowledged it now as he turned to look at her. She was caught somewhere between relief as his waking and panic-stricken horror.

"Marik…" she whispered. "Your eyes…" He strode to his mirror and was a bit shocked himself to find them not their usual lilac color, but an angry dark red. He blinked and tried to change them back to their normal color, but he didn't know what he was doing. They would have to remain this way until he could figure it out.

"You're really one of them, aren't you?" Isis questioned softly from his left. She had stood and looked ready to touch him, but she was hesitating. She had covered up her uncertainty quite well, but Marik could smell her apprehension about him. He didn't think anyone would be able to hide anything from him anymore. Strangely, the knowledge that his sister was at least somewhat frightened by him did not bother him.

"Yes," he answered. He liked the sound of his voice. It was powerful and commanding. "I'm a vampire. Just like them."

"He… woke up you know. A couple of hours earlier," Isis said, sounding uncomfortable. Marik looked from the mirror image of himself to her. She would not meet his gaze. "I just thought you might want to know. I don't know how much you remember about… what happened, but he was the one who… well, who made you into this." Marik said nothing and now she raised her head and smiled an achingly fake smile.

"Well, come downstairs when you're ready. Everyone will be happy to see that you're awake and will no doubt want to talk to you. Dinner will be done soon too. That will be nice, won't it?" Isis said. Before things ran the risk of becoming any more awkward, she was out the door. What she had neglected to say was that dinner would no doubt be a disaster with all of them together. Just days ago they'd been trying to murder each other. Now if what Isis said was true and Ryou and Bakura were here, it meant that a very uneasy truce had taken hold of all of them. The stability of it would be put to the test at dinner.

He closed his eyes and drifted for the moment. What he remembered… He remembered the look on Malik's face when he'd killed him. Then he'd been dead, of course. After that, there had been Bakura's voice telling him to drink. And the blood. He salivated now just thinking about it. It had been the grandest thing he'd ever consumed, had made him feel so warm inside… There'd been the growing cold of Bakura's body and the innate knowledge that if he didn't stop, he would end them both. But he hadn't wanted to. He'd continued to drink. He couldn't think of what had finally given him the strength to pull away. And then there had been nothing but pain.

He must have consumed a lot of Bakura's blood for the other vampire to be asleep until just recently. Marik opened his eyes and scowled as he looked at the floor. Bakura was somewhere down there, waiting along with everyone else for him to come down. On impulse he pushed back the waist of his pajamas to reveal the skin of his hip. Marring it was the scarred over bite mark he had come to loathe. He hadn't really thought it would suddenly disappear, but it angered him to know he would be starting this new life still stuck in the position of slave. Bakura had done that to him. Bakura had also been the one to decide to change him into this.

Marik put the thought out of his mind. He would deal with Bakura later, especially now that he had the strength to be able to. For now he would dress and prepare himself for dinner.

He descended the stairs and felt all eyes on him. Isis was setting the table. She offered him another shaky smile when she caught his eye. Rishid was also in the dining room, already occupying the seat he normally took. He did not react to Marik's presence in any way, but when the blonde looked into the living room, he could feel his older brother's gaze on him. Malik and Ryou were sitting disconcertingly close together on the couch. Ryou smiled and waved at him and Malik offered him a small nod, which he returned. Bakura was seated on the other side of the room and looked pale and withdrawn. When he heard Marik's footsteps he looked up sharply. Marik coolly let his gaze drift over him, then dismissed him altogether.

"Oh good. I was just about to call you down," Isis said. She motioned for him to take a seat. "Everyone come over here now. I thought that we could all eat together." Ryou rose and took Malik's arm to pull him up. Malik went along willingly, and ignored the questioning quirk of Marik's eyebrow as he passed. Marik also headed into the dining room. Two extra chairs had been added to the table to seat everyone. Marik took the one across from his brother and nearest to Rishid. Ryou was sitting beside Malik, and Rishid sat at the head of the table. The other end was usually where Isis sat. Marik realized a little too late that that left the only seat open for Bakura as the one next to him, which the vampire slid into. Isis handed them all plates of food and then took her own seat.

They all sat for a good ten minutes in silence, the sounds of Isis' and Rishid's silverware chinking against their plates the only thing to take away from it. The tension in the room was thick and cloying. Ryou was the only one who appeared to be visibly affected by it. He kept fidgeting in his chair and opening his mouth like he meant to say something.

"Are you not hungry, Marik?" Isis finally asked, breaking the silence in quite possibly the most tactless of ways. Marik looked down at his plate. Lots of green food. He was hungry all right, but not for any of this. He smiled at his sister, only inadvertently realizing he had fangs now when she visibly cringed. He shut his mouth quickly and tried to roll with it.

"Not really," he answered. Isis did not respond. She looked back at her own food and began to toy with it. Bakura, meanwhile, tried to be getting his attention. Marik continued to ignore his attempts.

"This is foolish," Rishid said. "Enough. Marik is awake. We don't have to continue this any longer. We can get these two out of our house and concentrate on finding a way to fix him."

"'Fix me'?" Marik demanded, rising from his chair to glare hard at Rishid. "Nothing is wrong with me! I feel better now than I ever have before!"

"Look at yourself," Rishid said quietly. Marik slammed his fists into the table.

"Marik," Isis said lowly, bringing his attention to her. "Rishid is right. You aren't acting like yourself. Sit back down and calm yourself. We need to decide what we're doing here, and you yelling is not going to get us anywhere. Rishid, please try to keep your opinions to yourself and not upset anyone where. We're going to figure something out." Marik frowned but sat down, and Isis turned her attention to Bakura and Ryou. "Do either of you know of a way to turn Marik back?"

"You can't," Bakura said roughly. "His human body is dead. Fuckface over there killed him. You all remember that, don't you? How about instead of bickering over Ryou and I, you figure out what you're going to do with that psychopath, yeah?"

"Bakura!" Ryou said sharply. "Can we please not do this right now! We already talked about this! It was the only option we had available at the time!"

"What was?" Marik interrupted. Bakura glanced at him and fell silent. Ryou tuned to look at his plate of food.

"What was the only option?" he asked again when it became apparent that no one was answering. "Killing me? Yeah, I've been wondering about that, actually. I thought I had just managed to piss you off one too many times, but now it doesn't look that way. Why did you do it, Malik?" Malik's brows had become bunched and drawn together. Marik could tell that his words were upsetting everyone, but he didn't care. He'd had enough with caring about everyone else.

"We had to," Ryou started. "If there had been a different way, we would have taken it. But there wasn't. If you became a vampire, we thought that—"

"We figured it would make the fighting stop," Malik finished, looking hard into Marik's eyes, daring him to go against this. "Ryou came to me for help and convinced me that the fighting needed to stop. So we thought of a plan to make that happen. I let the two of them escape when we got to the warehouse. The fighting that happened was a way for the two of us to figure out exactly what we would do, and to wait for you to arrive. We decided that if you loved him—" he stopped here to point at Bakura, "—then you wouldn't care what you woke up as. And if he loved you, he wouldn't let you die. So I stabbed you and he turned you and everything worked out like we'd expected."

"Malik!" Isis shouted. "You did this on purpose? You condemned your own brother to this life?"

"It wasn't only him!" Ryou spoke up, but Malik silenced him with an outstretched arm. They shared a look that held some meaning and Ryou sat back down in his seat and frowned at his vegetables.

"Yes. I didn't snap or have some fit. I killed him while being completely aware of my actions. You wouldn't kill the vampire who had just saved the life of your brother. And you didn't," Malik finished, shrugging.

"Malik I-I don't even know what to _say_—!"

"Then this is probably an equally bad time to announce that I'm also a vampire. I asked Ryou and he changed me," Malik interrupted, showing off a flash of red eyes to everyone at the table. This time even Rishid could not keep his reaction to these words in check. His fist tightened around his silverware until his knuckles were white. The rest of the table looked on in stunned silence. Even Ryou had gone a shade whiter than normal. Malik was impervious to all of this. He picked up his silver ware and began to rearrange his food in some pattern that must have made sense in his mind.

Bakura was the first one to react to these words. Marik had to scoot his chair sideways to get out of the other's way as he stood from his chair with nearly enough force to send the table toppling over. His eyes shown fiercely red and his skin seemed paler than ever. He was breathing hard too, and Marik had to wonder how much of this was from his age and how much was from the large amount of blood he'd stolen from the vampire.

"You _turned_ him, Ryou? Did you even _think_ before doing it, or were you so caught up in your _feelings_ to bother remembering that there was a good chance you could have _died_?"

Ryou visibly blanched after hearing this. Malik's red eyes narrowed, but before he could call Bakura out on his words, Marik rose to do it. He didn't know what had happened between Malik and Ryou while he'd been asleep, but he had his own fish to fry with Bakura.

"And what about you, Bakura? Did you think at all when you bit me? You were in just as much danger as Ryou," he said.

"Oh, so now you're talking to me again? How nice," Bakura sneered, his own eyes still glowing that alluring red.

"I got over the whole 'Aww, he's being cute when he acts like that!' thing a while ago. Stop being an asshole and just answer the damn question," Marik shot back.

"I didn't have a choice in the matter! You were dead! There was nothing else I could have done if I wanted to see you again! You know how I feel. Was there any other option left for me?" Bakura hissed, leaning in close to him.

"Oh, I know how you feel, do I? It doesn't really seem that way to me when I consider one very important thing you've done to me," Marik responded acidly, giving back just as much venom as he was given.

"Marik…" Bakura growled, eyes looking briefly in the direction of the others at the table. He wanted him to stop, save whatever this was for when there were no other listeners. Just for that, Marik was going to continue regardless. He wasn't going to let himself be bossed around.

"You marked me, remember, Bakura? You and Ryou both told me it was away to let others know that someone was watching over me. But that's not entirely correct, is it? What that scar really signifies is that I'm some kind of slave, or a toy. And with it still on me as a vampire, I'm lower than that, aren't I? Just your pretty little bitch. So no, I'm not really sure how you feel about me. I'm either some human you apparently 'fell in love' with if Malik is correct, or I'm some human you decided was a good enough fuck that you wanted to keep around. You tell me which one it is," Marik hissed, enjoying the way Bakura's anger melted. He had nothing to say. He had nothing to say because the other vamps had been right all along and his marking really was a slave brand.

"That's not what it means," Bakura mumbled.

"Really? Because I've hear otherwise. Well what about you, Ryou, would you like to tell me what it actually means then?" Marik asked snidely.

"That's the most common definition for it, but Bakura didn't mean it that way! I know he didn't!" Ryou said. He was looking at his brother, urging him to say something, but Bakura was not answering his imploring look. Smirking to himself about the mess he'd made, Marik left his seat at the table. Isis and Rishid looked completely flabbergast at this newest development, and Marik took a vindictive pleasure from this as well. The only person who looked at him as he ascended the stairs that led to his room was Malik.

00000

"What the hell was that all about?" Malik questioned loudly. Ryou looked up at him from his spot in the dining room where he was busy picking up dishes. Shortly after Marik's outburst, Isis and Rishid had packed up and left. That meant the only people in the house were now him, Malik, Bakura, and Marik upstairs.

"Newly changed vampires are often quite volatile," Ryou answered, and then went about continuing his work of clearing off the table.

"That wasn't just volatile. That was a grade A bitch fit like I've never seen before. You really fucking pissed him off," Malik laughed. Bakura snarled at him from his position in the corner and Malik laughed harder. At least someone was having a good time, Ryou thought. But he found himself smiling just a bit as well. It troubled him that his brother was upset, but he couldn't remain sad for too long. Not when he couldn't help remembering that he and Malik were _together_, and that Malik had proven as much at dinner when he'd defended him. Just the thought of it made Ryou's smile stretch full across his face. But then it fell whenever he looked at Bakura and thought about how terribly mistaken Marik was. Something needed to be done about this. This was no way to start what he had envisioned going through with the plan of turning Marik into a vampire.

"You have to go and talk to him," Ryou said, bringing the attention of the other two to him. "You have to explain to him what it means. You can't just sit there and sulk and hope that maybe when he grows out of this he'll realize he was wrong and come running back to you."

"I'm not sulking," Bakura argued. Malik broke out into laughter again.

"Bakura," Ryou sighed, "just go to him! I'm sure he's upset too! This entire time he hadn't had a clue how much he means to you! That had to have hurt. Just go up there and tell him that you love him!"

"Agh, okay! I'll go talk to him! Just stop throwing around all that romance shit! Both of you! This isn't like one of your cheesy soap opera or those trashy romance books you read, got it, Ryou? I'm not just going to start spouting shitty poetry and woo him!" Bakura snarled. Ryou almost burst into some laughter of his own as he tried not to picture Bakura doing just that and failed. He managed to restrain his urge to a few unruly snorts instead. As Bakura went up the stairs cursing and damning him and Malik both, Ryou looked over at Malik and lost it completely. He knew it was bad form to laugh in such an uncalled for situation, but his only consolation was that Malik was doing it too, and that made it all better.

His laughter faded when he heard the sound of Marik's door opening. Opening doors were definitely a good sign. Now if only the rest of the conversation would flow as smoothly. That was his hope, anyway. He strained his ears to hear anything from inside the room, but found he was unable to. That was also a good sign… right?

"It won't be over that quickly," Malik said, shaking his head. He mentioned to the stairs and Ryou's eyes followed. "He was pissed as hell and he's damn not going to sit around and listen to some explanation he doesn't want to believe."

"But he'd wrong! It doesn't mean that!" Ryou protested. Malik got up from the couch and headed into the dining room. He idly toyed with a fork Ryou had yet to collect off the table.

"What does it mean?" he asked.

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"Will you just shut up and listen?" Bakura hissed. "I'm trying to fucking explain here, and all you're doing is bitching and interrupting!"

"Because maybe I don't want to hear more of your lies!" Marik snapped, fists clenching. "Even if it doesn't mean that I'm some little toy, I'm _sick_ of the way you've been acting!"

"_I_ haven't been acting differently! You're the one who's been ignoring me and yelling all because of a little fucking misunderstanding you won't let me explain!" Bakura's eyes were burning dangerously bright, and he'd known he shouldn't have come up here, shouldn't have come up here, shouldn't have listened to Ryou. He should have just waited until Marik adjusted and got his tempter under control, but he hadn't wanted to wait, he had wanted to just get this shit over with and—

"You make it so easy to hate you," Marik responded, smiling a bitter little smile. "You're such a fucking idiot."

"Fine!" Bakura growled, teeth gnashing, "Since I'm so fucking stupid and you're got your head too far up your ass to bother to listen, why don't you just tell me what you want?"

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"I want to do it to you," Malik said. His hands had at some point come to rest on Ryou's shoulders, and now he found their weight as much of a surprise as Malik's words. His mouth fell open and he looked up to see if Malik could possibly be serious and saw the strange way his eyes glinted. There was something primitive in there and Ryou instinctively knew that he didn't want to say no here. He wouldn't have ever, but his surprise at the suddenness of the request had caught him unaware.

"If you want to, you can," Ryou said, more embarrassed by how quietly he'd said the words than the words themselves. Malik's mouth curled into a fearsome grin, and then his fangs were sinking into Ryou's neck and sucking and it felt so good that Ryou forgot to keep up his pretense of breathing.

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There were teeth biting all over his neck and Bakura was unsure of how he'd gotten pressed up against the wall like this, but he wasn't going to complain about it. He was half-hard already and he could think of few things better to do than this right now.

He moved his hands to touch and was bitten so hard he felt skin break. When Marik pulled away from his neck his lips were stained as red as his eyes and though he was smiling, there wasn't much amusement there.

"No," Marik said. "You don't get to fucking do anything. _This_ is what I want and you're going to just lay there and let me have it."

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Ryou was on his back on the couch before he knew it. He was panting and his mind was still cloudy and filled with Malik. He'd been so close and so deep and it had been terrifying and thrilling all at once to know someone so intimately besides yourself. There had been doors and doors and he had been granted access to them all. And it had been fulfilling but frightening, because if he could see this much of Malik, could Malik see this much of him? He'd known at once that the answer was yes, he could. Malik could see all of him and that scared him because what if there was something he didn't like? What if something went wrong? The moment he'd started to breathe too quickly there had been a hand on his chest, and that had steadied him. Malik was here and he had a chance to learn more than he'd ever hoped to learn about the person he loved and he took the chance while he had it.

His pants were also gone before he was aware of their absence, and then his underwear before he could react in any sort of way. And Malik was between his legs. And oh _god_ Malik was between his legs!

"What are you doing?" Ryou asked, voice a breathy little whisper as he strove to recover from the intimacy he'd felt when Malik had marked him.

"Taking what I want," Malik responded, and then he was stroking him and coaxing him and Ryou was up faster than he'd ever been.

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He felt like his body was on fire. He was burning up but he relished the sensation all the same. It was something new and right now Marik was appreciating more and more the new things in his life.

Like his new strength, for starters. Without it he wouldn't have been able to keep Bakura pressed to the wall when he started struggling.

He was pissed, that much was very obvious. But Marik was more so, and now he was going to have his way and do something about it. If Bakura wanted to mark him as a slave and a toy then fine, but Marik was going to do it right back. He was going to have some fun playing with Bakura and showing him how it felt to be on the other side of the power struggle.

He kissed Bakura roughly and with enough impact and pressure to make it hurt. He forced the other's mouth open and invaded. His newly acquired fangs got in the way quite frequently and made numerous cuts and scratches. Marik hardly cared. Bakura's blood tasted excellent and fueled his own fire and hunger even more. He was unbelievably hard. He pressed himself against Bakura and ground his hips to relief some of the pressure. It didn't work. Snarling, Marik finally unpinned Bakura from the wall and shoved him onto the bed instead.

He half-expected Bakura to leave, was more than sure he would get up and start fighting. But the older vampire did neither of these options. He remained and looked at Marik with a defiant set of his lips. Marik advanced toward the bed, stripping his clothes as he went, thinking of how much fun it would be to obliterate that look completely.

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Malik had gone from stroking to sucking and Ryou was all of a sudden quite certain this had to be a dream. He hadn't had a dream like this in a very, very long time. Being that he was technically dead, though his body still worked the same if there was blood in it, he didn't have a reason for dreams like this, and his sex drive was mostly nonexistent. The reasoning behind sex was procreation, and there wasn't much of a point in that instinct if he no longer possessed the ability to reproduce. Luckily, that meant unexpected wet dreams usually no longer occurred, although this was obviously one of those nights where his body just hadn't gotten the memo, because this was not real. It was all happening too fast and too perfectly, so it had to be a dream.

"Oh fffuck!" Ryou swore, hands flying down to grip tightly at Malik's hair. Had to be a dream. There was no other way Malik would be deepthroating him.

He clenched his bottom lip between his teeth and hoped the pain would wake him up. While this was amazing right now, once he realized it was not real, it would only feel ten times worse. Better to get it over with then sink into the illusion any further. But all the lip-biting was doing as preventing him from saying any more expletives, which was strange, because he'd thought he would have woken up by now.

Malik stopped and lifted his head from between Ryou's thighs. The disappointment he felt at the removal of the wet warmth surrounding him was great enough to prove that this was not a dream. He blushed ferociously, even more so when he tried not to think about how hot the string of saliva still connecting the tip of Malik's tongue to his member looked.

"I liked it when you swore," Malik said. "It was interesting. Do it more." And then he dived back down and swallowed Ryou whole, and the boy himself opened up his mouth and let the world know just how many curses in how many different languages he had learned over the years.

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Even if he wasn't leaving, Bakura didn't make things easy for him. The moment he sat on the bed they began snarling and biting and scratching. There were drops of blood staining all areas of the sheets, and Bakura's clothes were as good as ruined. When Marik finally wrestled Bakura underneath him, he tore the clothing off and flung the ripped shreds away somewhere in his room.

"I'm going to have my fun with you and there's not a thing you'll be able to do to stop me from it," Marik leered. He had his hands pinning down Bakura's arms, himself situated on top of him, their erections both squished somewhere between their bodies. Bakura's pale skin was flushed red and he breathed loudly as a result of their fighting. His eyes bore into Marik's and showed every bit of the fire and anger he'd been expecting to see, but without any of the action or fight. Bakura was furious, as he was always furious, but he was not fighting against Marik in any real way. Even now Marik's claws were digging furrows into Bakura's wrists, yet the other was not trying in any way to unsettle him. It made Marik's own rage grow.

"Do you even care?" he spat out. Bakura's lips moved into a snide little smirk and Marik pressed down against him, hoping to use his own weight to ease it somehow.

"If you're going to do it, then do it. Don't just sit there bitching about it," Bakura said. Marik's expression darkened.

"Fine," he snarled.

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Ryou screamed and forced Malik down as far as he could possibly go when he came. He shuddered as Malik continued the ministrations of his mouth through Ryou's orgasm, only lifting his head and letting the shaft fall from his mouth when he'd finished. The sight of Malik down there, licking his lips and eyes half-lidded with lust, sent a pathetic twitch through Ryou's softening penis, as if it were trying to find some life left in it. Malik raised himself up over Ryou and leant to mash their lips together in a passionate open-mouthed kiss that made Ryou's whole body tingle.

"You should have shown that side of yourself sooner," Malik chuckled darkly. "I'd have noticed you a lot quicker that way."

"I didn't know I had a side like this," Ryou responded. Everything with Yami had been gentle and controlled and smooth. He and Malik were as different as different could be. Where Yami had been sure of himself and strong, Malik was broken and confused under the confident front he put up. Yami had never used any disguises, but his words had often held double or obscure meanings. Malik said what he meant. Sex with Yami had always been enjoyable, but it had also been a thing that never changed. Though this was his first time with Malik, Ryou got the feeling it would never be exactly the same. Malik now was different from the Malik before. Now he was confidant and in his comfort zone. It meant that he'd probably had a great many lovers before, but Ryou didn't mind too much. He wanted to learn more about this Malik too. And apparently he had a bit to learn about this side of him Malik brought out.

"Well I like it," Malik very nearly purred. Ryou grinned and eased himself up on the couch. If Malik liked it, then he would show more of it. He snaked a hand down between the two of them and felt with a sort of thrill of excitement, that Malik was hard. The discover that _he'd_ been able to do that was more than enough to motivate Ryou to continue further. He unzipped the other male's pants and freed his erection from the confines of his boxers.

"Do you have anything we could use?" Ryou asked cheekily as he slowly stroked the organ in his hand. Normally there was no way he would act so forward, but right not all he could really think of was how good Malik's tan skin looked when hot and flushed, and how much he wanted to do this.

"My sister is bound to have some lotion hidden away somewhere," Malik grinned, pausing as his body shuddered. "Maybe we should go find some?"

"I think that's a good idea," Ryou grinned.

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He was bleeding. He was bleeding from numerous small wounds actually, quite a bit of them stinging bite marks, but there was one specific injury he had accrued that Bakura was focused on over the others.

His blood slicked everything down and made it easier for Marik to move inside him, but even the decrease in friction did not make the act hurt any less. Marik had torn something the moment he'd first pushed into him, and after, each new thrust had likely torn something else. His rhythm was nonexistent and his thrusts and movements irregular, sometimes shoving himself deep inside Bakura, something making only shallow movements. Bakura's hands were both pinned over his head as Marik thrust away into him, as if the blonde thought he would try to escape. Bite marks littered his neck and collarbone from when Marik ceased his ill-timed movements long enough to bite down viciously and draw yet more blood before beginning to grind against him all over again.

He tried not to wince at the pain of Marik's deep thrusts, kept his scowl in place even when he felt sharp teeth pierce his flesh. He forcibly willed himself not to respond in any way to what was being done to him. Marik was looking for him to fight back so that he would have something to fight against. He wasn't going to give him that. This wasn't Marik. Right now, this was Marik's original anger and hurt multiplied by ten because of his change. The stubbornness was still all his though, and Bakura knew that the boy wouldn't fucking listen until he _saw_ he was wrong. So he would wait and allow this Marik to continue to fuck him until the Marik he was waiting for opened his eyes.

Marik withdrew a hand from his wrists long enough to move one of his legs, open him up wider so that there was more room to work with. Bakura tried again not to let anything show on his face and to ignore the blood that was pooling on the sheets, and bid his time.

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"Do it," Ryou said. He was through with waiting. The thought hit him that maybe all of this was progressing too fast, maybe he needed to slow down, but he had waited long enough and now he wanted Malik.

Malik did not ask him if he was sure or if he was ready. Malik held himself with one hand and guided himself into Ryou. Ryou shut his eyes against the pain of the entry, familiar though he hadn't felt it in a great many years. Malik did not wait for him to adjust to his size or become accustomed to the hurt. Malik began moving immediately, though he did not remove himself from where he was buried inside Ryou. He rolled his hips once, twice, then began to establish a rhythm with the movement that made everything hurt a lot less. He leant in close to Ryou and breathed hot against the side of his neck where he'd bitten him as he rocked his hips.

Ryou shuddered when he felt Malik's tongue on the mark, lapping at there the scar tissue would form. His tongue ran back and forth across it and the rest of Ryou's neck and collarbone, never biting or nipping or kissing, just using his tongue. It was enough. The action was both lewd and sensual and went straight to Ryou's groin. He whined and moved his hips, rubbing the head of himself against Malik's lean abdomen. Even the smallest of touch against his most sensitive spot felt good, and though he'd already achieved one orgasm, he needed another. He bucked his hips again. Against his neck, Malik groaned.

"Do you want me?" he asked.

"Yes, I want you," Ryou responded. Malik pulled nearly all the way out of his body and slammed back in, making Ryou gasp.

"Are you afraid of me?" Malik asked.

"No!" Ryou shouted, eager. Malik withdrew and slammed into him again, and Ryou's fingers scrabbled to find purchase on Malik's shoulders.

"Do you love me?" he asked, looking at Ryou closely.

"I love you," Ryou answered.

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It was all wrong. It wasn't working as it should. He had Bakura where he wanted him and he was showing him how it felt to be used as a toy or a pet, but it wasn't how he'd imagined it. The scenario was the same, but the troubling feelings of nausea he had now forming in the pit of his stomach had never been there before.

He thrust ever harder into Bakura to try and erase the feeling. He had to give the man underneath him credit for dealing with it as well as he was. Marik could feel the blood and though Bakura tried his best to cover it, he saw every time the spark of hurt that flicked across his face. He wanted to stop and he wanted to apologize for what he was doing, but a larger part of him still urged him to continue. He had not made his point yet. Bakura was still looking at him with that defiant glare, still trying to make it look like he commanded some measure of authority that Marik did not want him to have. He wanted—needed—to make Bakura pay, to make him feel the same way Marik felt. So he thrust and bit and tightened his hands more and more around Bakura's wrists and ignored the blood.

He told himself to be angry and he was, but it was no longer solely at Bakura. His rage was slowly sifting to himself. Every time he pressed into Bakura so deeply that he was forced to feel the blood, he found himself snarling at his own actions. He leant over Bakura's prone form to bite into his shoulder. When he felt the jolt of pain run through the body he laid on top of he wished it were his own. He wanted Bakura to fight back against him and yell and draw blood of his own, to give him some reason for his rage. But Bakura remained lying there, submissive, doing the very thing Marik wanted and did not want at the same time.

"Fuck!" he yelled at himself. He was losing his erection. He tried to bully his way into Bakura and managed to, but after several rolls of his hips he no longer could. He pulled out completely and couldn't quite ignore the red staining him.

"Fuck! Fuck! I hate you so much! I fucking hate you! This is all your fault, you asshole! You, you—!" He could not adequately find the words to describe his fury. With horror he noticed he was close to tears. He was not going to fucking cry, he thought to himself. He was not. Crying and feeling sorry would mean that Bakura had won and he had not.

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There was something about Ryou that Malik admired, that made this act better than it should have been. It had been some time since he'd had sex. Probably the last time had been in Egypt, some female he could hardly remember who had thrown herself at him. People had wanted him back in Egypt. Women and men had desired their fills of his flesh, and Malik had not been picky in letting them have it. Lust and desire were tools that he knew and could use. It was easy to shape people with them and to bend them to his will when he acted in the right way.

When they'd moved he had found no reason to acquire a fuckbuddy. Without a goal in mind, manipulation through carnal lust seemed useless. He thought that the gap between partners could have accounted for some of the passion he felt now, but on the whole he largely attributed it to Ryou. There was something about Ryou that made his every movement magnificent, every touch of their sweat-slicked bodies intimate and electric. Maybe it was the love Ryou professed to having for him, but of course he could not be sure of that. He didn't understand it. All he knew was that the idea of a feeling so deep and full no longer terrified him as much as it should have. If it meant that he could have Ryou like this whenever he wanted, he smirked to himself, then he did not mind at all.

Ryou was panting and moaning and scrabbling at his back, leaving angry red lines that more often than not bled. When Ryou had first touched him there, Malik had nearly lost himself. He had noticed the way Ryou had looked at his scars when he'd first removed his shirt. It hadn't bothered him much, but feeling hands on the designs had troubled him much more than he cared to admit. It was the feeling of Ryou's warmth clenched tightly around him that simultaneously made him long to tighten his hands and destroy as well as made him remember where he was and that he needed to control himself. Now, the sensation of Ryou leaving his own marks over those scars aroused Malik more than even the sight of the boy on his back, cock erect and weeping because of him.

He thought he could get addicted to this if he wasn't careful. Ryou's body was made for him to be inside it. They pressed together perfectly. Ryou impaled himself upon Malik's length with just as much effort as Malik expanded by shoving forward. Every time he let his lips and tongue travel the expanse of pale skin Ryou had offered up so readily, he was greeted with some reaction—either a twitch of a tremble or an impatient rock of the hips… or better yet, one of those lusty keening moans that drove Malik forward with ever more intensity. And now that he was the creature that he'd been turned into, it enhanced every sensation and feel. All of his other fucks were bland in comparison, insignificant little blips in his mind.

He could get very addicted to this. To this, and to the paradox of strengths and weaknesses that was Ryou. The male was submissive, body built to be touched and fucked and protected. But Ryou had said that _he_ wanted to be the one to be the protector—which was laughable—and the hint of dominance he'd shown when he'd shoved Malik down onto his cock and forced him to swallow it made Malik's own member throb angrily at just the memory. He could easily become ensnared if he wasn't careful, but the curious part of it all was that he did not _want_ to be careful. Ryou wasn't afraid of him. Rather, Ryou wanted to learn more _about_ him. And anyone that fucked up naturally gained Malik's own attention, even some measure of respect. He would peel Ryou back layer by layer until he knew all there was to know. And now, he had all of eternity to do so.

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He'd done it. Bakura ignored the pain of his body as he shifted and sat up in the bed. His neck and shoulders hurt from the bites and his wrists and legs hurt from being held in place for so long, and between his legs hurt for obvious reasons. He was quite sure that he was going to need blood real fucking soon because he'd lost more than he'd thought, but he'd done it. Marik was sitting as far away from him on the bed as he could possibly get, and Bakura could smell the salt of his tears. He crawled over to Marik and ignored his squawk of protest when he turned the blonde around and licked the tear trails that had run down his cheeks.

"Bakura, what—? Get the fuck off me!" Marik yelled. He pushed at him, but Bakura held fast and stayed firmly put.

"You ready to listen now?" he asked.

"Holy fucking… Gods Bakura, I just fucking _raped_ you and you're climbing all over me like you want me to do it again! Get the fuck off!" Marik yelled. His voice sounded hoarse.

"First of all," Baura began, you didn't _rape_ me. Hurt like a bitch, but I could have easily left if I'd wanted to. You didn't force me to do shit." Marik gave him a very pointed and very angry look at the bites forming a dark ring around his neck, and at the various bloodied areas on the sheets. He was still just as angry as before, but now all that rage and hate was directed to himself. While not a better solution, it did make him a bit easier to talk to.

"Those will heal," Bakura shrugged. It was slow going because of the low quantities of blood in him, but now that he was not accumulating any new injuries, he could already feel his skin begin to stitch itself back together. "And I'm not totally against blood play either, I'd just like to be in the mood for it next time."

"That wasn't blood play," Marik snarled, and there was that hate, that loathing. "That was—"

"Pretty fucking normal," Bakura interrupted. "Recently turned vampires are volatile, or whatever shit Ryou said. They've suddenly got all this new power and strength and the wind up getting it into their heads that they can do whatever the hell they want, and they freak. The break thing and trash things and do a lot of stupid shit until A: they get themselves killed, B: someone puts them in their place, or C: they get over it on their own. That wasn't anything I wasn't already expecting." Of course what he was not going to say was that usually new vampires weren't _quite_ so volatile and violent, but he didn't feel the need to mentioned that fact when Marik actually seemed to be paying attention to him now.

"So you're saying that everything I did and feel is normal?" Marik questioned delicately, voice queerly deadened.

"Pretty much. What isn't normal is your brother acting like the most well adjusted fuck in the world, but he was pretty insane to begin with. Probably doesn't even notice the mood swings," Bakra commented.

"And that was supposed to make me feel better?" Marik asked.

"No," Bakura said, becoming serious now. "That was supposed to explain why you feel like you're made of hate and rage and nothing of any substance. You were pissed at me before you turned, because of the mark. Afterward, you took that anger and multiplied it to get what you have here. And pretty much anything that would have hurt me sounded like a good idea at the time."

"And it was all for nothing, right? Because the mark doesn't mean what I think it does." Marik's voice was still deadened, and by this point even his eyes had become blank. Bakura didn't like it. It made Marik look too much like his brother when he was having one of his freak out fits. Marik was fighting some battle in head, and Bakura didn't know what the result of it would be or how he could help. All he could really do was just answer Marik's questions.

"It does mean what you heard. That's the most common meaning of it and the most widely used, but not what I had in mind for you. It's still a mark of ownership because it carries my scent, but it isn't mean to label you as a slave. If a vampire bites another and leaves their mark on them, it means exactly what you heard. But if the other vampire reciprocates the first's feeling and leaves a mark of their own, it means something more like… they're soulmates, or some shit like that," Bakura explained, wrapping that whole last part up quite quickly, vaguely embarrassed that he had to explain it.

"That's gay as shit," Marik said.

"Yeah, it is," Bakura agreed, thinking that if Marik was joking around, he must be getting better. But he still looked as empty and Malik-like as ever.

"Obviously," Bakura continued, trying to be unperturbed by the long pause in his narrative and the tense silence, "when you were a human, you couldn't mark me in any way. Even if you bit me or something, the bruise would have faded away. Being that you were human and bore my smell, the other's assumed it meant you belonged to me."

"But you meant it the other way?" Marik asked carefully. He seemed to be tiptoeing around something big here, but Bakura could not begin to fathom what.

"I meant it the other way," he agreed, also careful. He felt like he was talking of a tightrope. Marik nodded slowly, and then something changed. And he was falling.

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Ryou was going insane. He could not remember Yami ever having been like this. But then he could not remember anything much right now, or think beyond words of "Oh god!", "Harder!", and what was apparently his favorite: "Fffuck!"

With every quick snap of Malik's hips it felt like he had to open his mouth to let something out, whether it be a curse, moan, or command he was unsure of himself until he heard his own voice saying it. Everything felt so good and healing abilities nonwithstanding, he knew he'd be feeling this in the morning, but he really did not fucking care. This was perfect and Malik was perfect and oh _god!_ was Malik ever perfect. He loved Malik and appreciated all facets of him, but there was nothing quite so good as watching his face screw up in concentration as he made sure to abuse the spot inside Ryou again and again. This was Malik's element and he was positively _alive_ and _entrenched_ in it.

Ryou screamed again as another thrust sent Malik ramming against his prostate and god he hoped Bakura could not hear any of this. He wanted to be quiet, but such a thing was impossible when Malik wanted the exact opposite. He shouted again when this time Malik reached down between their bodies to grab his own member and began to stroke it. Ryou hissed through his teeth and pumped his hips enthusiastically, jolting Malik deeper inside him.

"Faster, do it faster!" Ryou commanded, and Malik increased both the tempo of his thrusts and the pump of his hand. He was becoming erratic in his movements and no longer slamming into with quite as much force as before, but he was just as close to his end as Malik and did not care. His nails dug into Malik's shoulder blades and in the back of his head he hoped this did not hurt, but another part of him noted that Malik seemed most eager to respond when he did this, so he did it often. Malik leant over him and licked the shell of his ear and Ryou squeezed him tight. Then he felt Malik shudder above him and cry out as he reached his own release.

"Keep going," Ryou commanded. Malik breathed deeply and nodded sort of nuzzling into his neck with the movement. His hand had stopped its motions when the orgasm had hit him but now Malik resumed his stroke, rocking his hips steadily against Ryou, giving him just enough stimulation to send him completely over the edge.

"Tell me you love me," Malik purred into his neck. Ryou turned and held him close.

"I love you."

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His anger wasn't completely gone; it had just redirected itself from anger at Bakura to anger at himself and Bakura. He was furious with himself for doing what he'd done and at Bakura for not stopping him. He was disgusted by his tears. He loathed himself for fucking up so completely and utterly, and Bakura for not having forced him to listen sooner and for ever having put that god-damned mark on him. His rage was all swirling and burning around him and he didn't fucking care that this apparently was all normal behavior, hurting the people you really didn't want to hurt, because he didn't buy it. If he did, it would be an excuse for his actions and he didn't want a fucking excuse. He wanted this to stop.

He pushed Bakura down onto the bed, noticed that he'd surprised him. Bakura was still bare and that was good, because that was what he wanted. He crawled along the length of Bakura's body and came to a stop between his legs, right where he wanted to be.

"I'm going to make you mine. I'm going to make it so that everyone will always know, no matter where you go, that you belong to me. No one else will have you. But I won't take away your pride. I won't do it where everyone will be able to see it. I don't _want_ them to see it. Only I will," Malik said, and then he bent down and bit Bakura in the same place he'd been bitten when he'd been a human.

It was a different bite than his others because this one was meant to mark and not hurt, and he could feel the differences already. Chemicals he was not even aware of were injected into the site of the bite to make sure it would scar over and never be removed. That huge sense of Bakura filled him, like it had when he'd been marked, only it seemed now that everything was expanded and that there was even more for him to see than the last time. He did not allow his mind to lose himself as he did before. He heard Bakura make a breathy little gasp and focused on that. He wanted this to work. He was doing now what he'd wanted to do to begin with by making Bakura understand how he had felt, and he hoped this was enough. He just wanted to be normal.

When he pulled away Bakura was flushed and aroused and panting, and Marik found that he was too. He felt hazy, unsure if he was still burning like before. Bakura whined beneath him and writhed on the bed.

"Fuck!" he swore. "Fuck! Marik-ah, Marik, do something! Fuck-just fuck me!"

Marik stared, unable to comprehend how this made any sense at all, so Bakura growled and pulled him into a bruising kiss.

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Ryou ended the kiss and Malik stared at him like he wanted to know why the hell he'd done something so stupid. Ryou blushed and suddenly what he'd been thinking about asking seemed utterly dimwitted. His fingers danced absently over the already-healed marking on his neck. He only became aware of their movement when Malik's gaze fixated on there long enough. Ryou blushed even more deeply and cast his traitorous hands down into his lap.

"You want to ask me a question," Malik stated. Ryou nodded his assent.

"I do, but it's silly. I shouldn't bother," he said hastily.

"What?" Malik asked.

"No, it's… Just lay back down."

"_What?_"

Ryou's blush only got darker, because now he'd really messed things up. He'd piqued Malik's interest; now there was no way to get away without saying it. He shouldn't have even thought it. He was certain the moment he did, the happiness he'd found for himself in this moment would crash and fall apart, every bit as fragile as the glass ball from which he must have glimpsed such a fantastic dream.

In the meantime, Malik was still looking at him rather impatiently and waiting for him to answer his question already. Ryou sighed and looked down at his hands again. Malik's thigh rested nearby, tanned and beautiful. He really did not want to lose this.

"I wanted to know it… I could bite you. Mark you. Because you know, you did it to me." There were his fingers on his scar again, betraying his thoughts. He didn't _need_ for Malik to tell him it was okay. Unlike with Marik, he didn't care how others would view it. He knew that it meant Malik cared enough about him to want to do it. It might now be love, but he didn't know it he would ever get that emotion from Malik. For now, he would take what he could get and let it be a reminder of when he'd had it.

Malik was looking at him strangely now. Not strangely in a bad way, but Ryou interpreted it as that and quickly jumped to his own defense. "I mean you don't have to of course, and it was a pretty silly idea so we should really just forget about it and lay—"

"Why wouldn't I let you do it?" Malik asked queerly. His brows furrowed, like he truly could not grasp what was going on inside this boy's head.

"Because you wouldn't want others seeing it and thinking less of you?" Ryou hazard a guess. Marik snorted

"I'd kick the person's ass," he scoffed. "Do it if you want to. I probably wouldn't just let anyone else do it, but you're far more interesting than them." Ryou tried not to blush too heavily at that. It wasn't love, but he was "interesting", and that definitely did mean something.

Encouraged by this response, Ryou lent down and placed his mouth against Malik's skin. He looked up one last time at the other to make sure that this was okay, then bit down harshly into skin. Immediately blood flowed into his mouth. He swallowed and let himself be embraced into that all-encompassing feel of Malik. It was even more intense this time, but he was not frightened by it. This was all Malik and he was going to take as much of him as he could for however long he could.

88888888

Marik slid into Bakura again, but this time he was careful and slow. It was Bakura now who urged him to go faster, but Marik refused, not wanting to cause him any more injuries. Bakura growled and squirmed and did his best to impaled himself upon Marik's erection when Marik never did it himself. This time was as different as it could be from the last. Marik was the one who mostly remained immovable here, and Bakura did the majority of the work.

"Will you just fucking do something already? Marik, get over it! You're not going to hurt me!" Bakura bitched up at him.

"I already did!" Marik protested. It was the only thing he could think of now and he was so fucking nervous he was going to do it again, even if he didn't want to.

Bakura growled again and moved on the bed so that Marik slid completely out of him. He pushed Marik back down onto the bed and climbed atop him. Marik protested, but Bakura grabbed a hold of his member and with a sound of satisfied bliss, sank down upon it. It had to have hurt, Marik thought, but if it did, Bakura showed no signs of pain. He rode Marik hard. With his face flushed and his eyes half-closed and glowing, Marik realized that whatever he felt, he'd told Malik the truth about loving Bakura. He loved this man and he couldn't think of what he would have done if he'd hurt Bakura so badly in his rage that he'd just left.

"Bakura, Bakura," he called out.

"Not… now," Bakura responded with a low moan, sinking back down completely onto Marik.

No, it had to be now. If he didn't say it now he wouldn't later, and it would always be on his mind. "Bakura, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. I did, but I didn't. That wasn't me. I love you. I hate you, but I love you too, and I just don't want you to—" Bakura stopped moving long enough to lean down and shut him up with a kiss.

"You talk too much," he said, eyes glowing and looking deeply into Marik's. "I love you. You'll get over this and we'll be good again. I love you."

"Bakura…" Marik called again, but he didn't _know_ what he wanted to say now. He was happy and he wanted to tell Bakura that, but all he could get out was the repetition of his name. As Bakura really began to work him, the calls of his name turned into moans, and then he was gripping tightly onto Bakura's hips to push him down further and uncaring if it hurt. Bakura's own noises told him that it did not and bit him to go faster. Marik obeyed and lost himself to the movement. Soon he forgot all about his anger and rage and who it was meant for and all he was was this moment.

00000

Isis and Rishid returned the next day to a house that wasn't quite as divided as the one they'd left. Ryou was ecstatic and Malik was Malik, though a Malik that was just a bit more sociable and more often than not found in some proximity to Ryou. Marik had mostly gotten over his anger, and whenever a fit of rage did strike him, Bakura managed to calm him down. When the eldest two Ishtars returned, no one asked any questions about where they'd been. But the way they both seemed to flinch at loud noises and complained of headaches were telling enough signs of where they'd gone.

"Before we have any discussion here, I just want to make one thing clear here. Rishid and I are not happy with this situation and how it has turned out," Isis announced. She had gathered all of them around the table in the dining room and looked at them steadily. Marik nodded; he hadn't thought one day would suddenly change their views. "But I also want to say that the two of us realize this is partially our own faults. If we both had listened just a bit more and had not been so judgmental, things might not have turned out the way they are now."

"We also want to thank Bakura for doing what he did to Marik. It may not have been the best of decisions, but it was the only option available to keep Marik here with us." Bakura too nodded, showing that he accepted this backwards sort of apology.

"Marik, your sister and I have decided that maybe you were right. There are some vampires out there who are not a threat to us, and we need to take the time to gather all of our information before acting recklessly. We want to apologize to you two, and let you know that you won't have to fear us," Rishid said, gaze directed at Bakura and Ryou.

"We just don't want there to be any more fighting. We want things to be able to go back to normal," Isis said.

"I don't think they can," Marik spoke up, frowning slightly. "I love the both of you and I'm glad to hear the decisions you both have made, but things can't stay the way they were anymore. Malik and I are vampires now. We'll be in danger if we stay here. After the other vampires and what happened to Mai…" He still could not speak about her without feeling heavy remorse. Where was she now? He knew that Isis and Rishid had disposed of her body as well as those of the other vampires from the warehouse, but where those bodies had gone, he did not know. There hadn't been much of a chance to ask with everything that had gone on, and no one seemed eager to bring the subject up, either.

"After all of that, other hunters will come here to find out exactly what happened," he continued. "They'll want to know. And if Malik and I aren't gone by the time that happens, it won't be easy to deal with." There was silence after that as everyone took in Marik's words.

"You can't leave," Isis said. "Neither of you can. I won't allow it."

"We have to," Marik insisted softly. "We can't stay here. And I may not have said it before, but I love Bakura. I want to be together with him. He's got a lot of thing to teach me about this new life, too." He elbowed Bakura's side and the vampire turned and snapped at him, making Marik chuckle. Isis looked from Marik to Malik, and he nodded too. Then, whether it was because she didn't have the patience for it or just because she didn't want to start another argument, she sighed and nodded.

"If you both feel that you have to leave, then I can't stop you. But please, please promise me that you'll be careful and keep in touch! And finish school! I don't want either of you turning into delinquents!" That produced some laughter from the Ishtars at the table, and though it wasn't easy and things were still tense, it was a start.

They spent a week at the house getting their things together and planning what would come next. Bakura and Ryou left sometimes to go to their own house and prepare, but they spent much of their time with the Ishtars. They talked about where they would go and what they would do after arriving (Isis was adamant that they go to school and Ryou agreed with her—it made it easier to blend in) and how often they would call and visit. Marik was far more excited about all of this than he thought he'd be. He had moved before and it had never been a big deal, but now he would be on his own in a completely different setting. It was nerve-wracking and thrilling all at once.

On the day they had agreed they would leave, Malik and Ryou snuck out of the house before the sun came up and were gone. Isis wasn't very happy about that, and promised his brother would hear of it the moment she called. Marik spent the day with his siblings, and when the sun fell Bakura had all of their belongings packed up in the car. Neither he nor Marik were quite sure how Malik and Ryou had gotten their things out without taking it, but apparently they had. What they had stolen was Marik's motorcycle, which angered him to no end. However, whenever he pictured his brother's grinning face with Ryou's behind the wheel, he found he couldn't remain irritated for too long.

"So where do you think they went?" Marik asked. He had said his goodbyes and now was on the road with Bakura and he found he couldn't be happier.

"Not wherever it was they told your sister they were going. Wherever they are, we'll meet up with them eventually. Why, you worried?" Bakura asked, sparing a look from the road long enough to tease him.

"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine. They're weird together, but I think they work, you know?" Bakura nodded. He wasn't too thrilled by the relationship that had sprung up between them, but he agreed that it worked. "So where are we headed?"

"Wherever there isn't a lot of sun," Bakura answered. "The sooner we build up your immunity to it, the better. If Ryou's smart, he'll do the same with your brother." Marik hummed and nodded. Even the prospect of the painful endurance that awaited him could not dampen his spirits.

"And after that?"

"We go wherever the hell we want. It's not like we've got a limited amount of time or anything." And they both laughed, because they didn't.

* * *

Kay! Quickly quickly, because there's a lot I want to say here. First, the name I used for Marik's father Muta, it means "obeyed." I thought it fit. I also really liked the name Cecilia, I don't even know. (Is that the name of Pegasus's dead wife? I honestly was not thinking of her when I picked it.) Not like any of that really matter though. As for the sex scene, when I initially had this planned out in my head, dominant!Marik was a thing that did not happen in the fandom. Now it does. A lot. So I decided I still needed to make the scene all super awesome and stuff, and so wrote a double sex scene! Which was difficult. But hopefully I have successfully satisfied everyone's Deathshipping craving!

In general I'm quite pleased with this chapter. There were some things I really wanted to do that I just didn't get a chance to with the way it turned out, and I'm sure a bit more parts could have used better transition or explanation, but you know what? Last chapter and everything, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I will just be satisfied with my super corny ending where they ride off together into the night. And my crappy chapter title. Because without crappy chapter titles and silly endings, this just wouldn't be me.

But more important! This is the first multi-chap anything I have finished in literally FOREVER. I am constantly writing things and then I'll get sidetracked and not do anything with them. Half the reason I probably finished this is because I had reviewers who I knew were interested and wanted to see me continue the fic. So I just want to give a HUGE thank you to every single one of you! You are all really great inspiration to me and so kind with your words! I know it's a pain in the ass to actually review a chapter when it's so tempting to just read it and close the window, so I seriously appreciate that you all took the time out of your days. If I could hug you all I would! Instead, I shall just have to send my internet love!

So again, thank you all for reading and remaining interested in this fic even though it took me so long to update and finish, haha. I hope the end is satisfactory to all of you! Although Blood is over, there are still a few other Thiefshipping things I need to finish, so I'll still be around! But again (for like the millionth time) thank you, thank you, thank you!


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